Keystone
by Martienne
Summary: He could never forget her, and his memories were the keystone in the center of everything he was. Yet it is said we are not human beings but human becomings. Leonard Church was no exception.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _Keystone_ is a new draft of Leonard Church's life story that will draw from text that formerly appeared in my previous works, _White Knight_ and _Dark Night._ Though I have worked hard on that version of his biography in the last four years, I have realized I need to update the events to align with canon. I hope you will enjoy this reimagining of his tale._  
_

Author's notes may be found on my tumblr at texelations dot tumblr dot com. Search for keystone and you will find the author's notes linked to the individual chapters.

* * *

"Leonard, come on. Get out and give me a hand, please."

Leonard looked at his father through the open window of the moving van before dragging his hand over to the door handle. He'd been sitting there ever since they'd arrived, when they had backed into the driveway. He didn't want to be here.

He slowly got out of the truck and stretched, arching his back slightly, staring without emotion at the houses that lined the street. The occasional broken window, maybe a tarp for a patch on someone's roof, even the lack of many flowers that weren't weeds in people's yards, showed that it wasn't in the nicest area of town. Things hadn't been much different back home in Atlanta, but he didn't appreciate being uprooted like this, even if his father had waited to arrange the move for after summer break had started. According to his father it was going to be a new beginning, new town, new life; new school, now that he was going to be starting high school. But he didn't want any part of it.

He went to the back of the truck, sighed heavily, and picked up the first box he came to. "Where do I put this, Dad?"

"Whatever room it's labeled for." His father approached and checked the grease-pencil scrawl on the side. "It's your stuff. Put it in the back bedroom."

He headed into the house, listening to his feet treading on the floorboards. It was different living in a house—in Atlanta they'd living in an attached condo, in a busier neighborhood. He set the box down in the far corner when he reached his bedroom and went over to the window to gaze out of it blankly. It was kind of cool that there was a backyard here. Not that that made being here any better.

On his fourth trip he heard a sound as he walked down the hall to his room—a scrape, and then a thump. What was _that_? He sped up a bit, then stopped at the doorway.

Someone was climbing through the window.

It was teenage girl. She was halfway through, pushing herself over the sill. Her blonde hair hung like a curtain as she struggled, blocking her view of him. She didn't spot him until she came to a standing position. Her blue eyes went wide and she pushed her hair back from her face. He was shocked, remaining where he stood, not reacting, merely staring at her.

She glanced back at the window, then trained her gaze on him with a frown. "Who are you?"

He scoffed, shifting the box he'd been carrying to angle himself toward her slightly. "Who am _I_? What are you doing in my bedroom?"

She crossed her arms. "Hey, shut up. This house was vacant last I knew."

He rolled his eyes. "How'd you miss the moving truck in the driveway?" He set the box aside, dropping it more than anything else, as he placed it on the floor. "Nice way to introduce yourself to the new neighbors, by the way."

"I'll introduce myself any way I want to." She was clearly over the shock of finding someone inside the house now. "Now when I want to avoid spending time at home I'll have to go somewhere else. Thanks a lot."

"Don't blame me," he said. "Now are you planning to leave, or do I need to make you help me with moving in?"

"Can't _make_ me do anything, jackass." She pushed her hair back off her forehead and looked at him more closely. "I'm Allison, by the way."

"Leonard," he replied, a bit begrudgingly. "Don't think you can get on my good side just 'cause you decided to be all friendly all of a sudden."

"Whatever." She turned around and hopped back out the window.

He went over to it to try to spot her, then turned to head back out to the truck. She was already gone. This had been the first thing about this neighborhood that had made him just a little bit curious, and he glanced around when he returned to the truck to see if maybe she had come around the house to the street.

"What is it?" his dad asked, spotting his son from the loading bay of the truck.

Leonard looked at his dad. "Oh…nothing." He gave one more glance up and down the street before he reluctantly returned to doing the work of moving in.

It wasn't until two days later that he saw her again. It turned out that she lived across the street. She exited her house as he was shooting baskets into the decrepit rim that was attached to the front of the carport. Light-footed, she ran over, crossed the drive behind him, scooped up the ball mid-dribble and took a three-point shot. He gave her a look and chased after the ball. It bounced out of his grasp and she got a hold of it once again.

"Too slow!" she taunted. "You need to do better than that!"

He was used to only needing his height advantage to compete against others his age, but he found she was right. She was too nimble for him to keep up with her. But he couldn't let her think he was going to roll over and let her win. "You're so slow it looks like you're going backwards," he taunted back.

She laughed harder at his remark, proving him wrong by immediately stealing the ball again. Now he was determined—he was going to get that ball before her, one way or another.

They played ball until the sun got to be high in the sky and they were both covered in sweat. "Hey," he finally panted. "Hey, it's time for a break. Let's get something to drink."

"You just want to stop because you're losing," she teased.

"I'm not losing," he scoffed. "I've just been distracted 'cause of the sun."

She laughed. "That doesn't mean you're not losing."

He rolled his eyes. "You want a drink or what?"

"I don't need you to give me a drink."

But she willingly followed him into the house, accepting the cup of water he offered her. She gulped it down before they headed back out.

"Where are you from, anyway?" she asked later on, watching him stumble as he tried and failed to learn a new trick on his skateboard.

He glanced over at her before returning his attention to not falling and cracking his head open. "What?"

"Your accent. Where are you from?"

_Home_. That was the answer he wanted to give. As fun as it was getting to know her, and as much as he preferred the weather here, it still wasn't home. "You're the one with an accent, idiot," he said instead.

She rolled her eyes. "You're such an ass, Leonard."

He started to roll past her. She stuck her foot out to shove at his skateboard. He lost his balance, wavering in one direction before falling in the other. She took that opening, grabbing the skateboard and pushing off after she got her foot on it.

"Bitch!" He nearly ran after her, but instead he stood up, checked his hands for scrapes, and watched her. She was better than him. He hated that he was already getting used to that.

"The hell are you looking at?" she taunted as she returned. She flipped the skateboard up and held it.

"Nothin'," he said, a little too quickly. She gave him a dead-eyed stare. "_Nothing_," he insisted.

She grinned, but she also shook her head and dropped his skateboard so it could roll over to him and hit him in the ankle. "You really are an idiot, Leonard."

It was dusk then, and he wasn't surprised when she followed him inside. "Wanna watch something?" he asked, going over and touching the computer terminal in the wall. Even in a neighborhood like this the screens were standard in every home, though quite a bit smaller.

She approached the terminal so she could look at the choices. "Only if you let me pick."

"It's my house," he said.

"I'm the guest." She elbowed in beside him and made a selection. Already, he'd gotten used to letting her have her way about things; he shoved against her arm but didn't protest further.

His father arrived not long after they'd settled on the couch and he smiled at the two as he entered. "Hello there," he said.

"Oh, hi Dad." Leonard looked at the girl who sat beside him. "This is Allison. She lives across the street."

"Hi, Allison. I'm Lawrence." It was easy to see the resemblance between father and son. With his narrow jaw and green eyes, Lawrence Church looked like an older version of his son, but with sandy blond hair rather than Leonard's black hair. He set his briefcase down and headed toward the kitchen, still in his shirt and tie. "Are you two hungry?"

"Yeah." Leonard looked at Allison. "How about you, you hungry?"

"Yeah." She was sunken into the couch, and she flexed to sit up a little higher.

Lawrence paused in the doorway to the kitchen. "Do you need to let your parents know where you are?"

"Oh," she said dismissively. "Nobody cares what time I get in."

"You might be surprised," Lawrence said.

She snorted. "No, I wouldn't. They don't even miss me if I stay out all night."

Leonard looked over at her. He secretly thought that was kind of cool. She could stay out all night if she felt like it and not get into trouble. He wasn't going to say that, though. "For real?" he asked instead.

"I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't true." She got up and moved away from him, toward the kitchen. "I've never gotten in trouble for staying out yet. What are we having?"

"Beef noodles," Lawrence said. "Do you get a lot of this kind of thing at home?"

"Nah," she said. "Frozen dinners and soup. It's easier. My mom doesn't cook."

Lawrence glanced over at her. "Sounds like you have a lot of freedom."

"Hell yeah, I do. It's awesome."

"Sounds like it," Lawrence said. Leonard was pretty sure his father didn't actually mean that. He might leave Leonard to his own devices while he was at work but there was no way he'd be allowed to stay out overnight. "It looks like there are usually a lot of people over there, aren't there?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, mom's always got someone hanging out. Why?"

"Just something I noticed."

After that he dropped the topic of her home life. The three of them talked until late, mostly about the move and what it had been like living in Atlanta.

"Hey, so," she said when they were done eating. "I don't want to stay too late."

"I thought it didn't matter," Leonard said.

"Too late for you," she clarified. She shot Leonard a smirk. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Leonard watched her leave and turned to his dad. "I think she made that up, about being able to stay out."

"I don't," Lawrence said quietly.

"Why do we have to play basketball all the time?" he complained. They'd been playing all morning and he'd lost his patience with it once she had won her fourth game of Horse. "Let's go for a walk."

"You're just mad you lost again," she said. "Where do you think we'd go?"

"I don't know, isn't there some place you like to go? You're the one who talks about how much time you _don__'__t_ spend at home."

She shook her head at him. "Yeah, I know a place," she said. "The kids play kickball there."

"So? Let's go." He let the basketball roll into the carport and he let her lead the way.

The problem with this idea was he was bored within about ten minutes. "Is this the most interesting thing there is to see? This sucks."

"_No_," she said. "Ask nicely and maybe I'll show you something better."

"Just fucking do it, you're bored too."

"Not if you're going to be this big of a pissbaby over it." She turned her back and started walking. "Follow me and don't tell anyone where we're going."

He started to trail along behind her. "Who am I going to tell? These kids?"

"I mean your dad." She let him catch up before continuing. "It's a secret."

He rolled his eyes. "I get the picture."

Their destination was several blocks away. She waved off his attempts to get her to tell where they were going. It wasn't until they picked their way past a dilapidated board fence that she volunteered any information. "It's a little run-down, so be careful."

He looked at the house she'd brought him to. "Run-down? It's falling down," he said. "What the hell are we doing here?"

"Nah, it's not. It only looks that way." The board over the front door was loose and she squeezed through the space. He watched her disappear from his sight. After hesitating for a minute, he followed.

"What took you so long?" she asked him.

"I just didn't know…" He interrupted himself. "What is this place?"

"It's my hideout." The windows were covered with boards like the front door had been, so slivers of light were all that illuminated the room from the edges of the panes. "It's pretty cool. Much more private than your place was. I'm going to bring some stuff here, make it nice."

There was no way to make this nice; it was still a condemned house no matter how cool she tried to say it was. He let her guide him through the rooms, realizing she was letting him into something private. He just bet that she'd never shown anyone else this space. He looked over at her. They were friends, like real friends. When had that happened?

Eventually they climbed back through the gap and brushed the musty, dusty smell of the house off of themselves in the summer sunshine. After that they walked around the neighborhood for hours. Then they headed back to his house and took up their usual places on the couch to watch something. It wasn't until late that Lawrence came home that night. Allison had dozed off to sleep. "Hey," Leonard said, giving her a nudge. "Dad's home."

Lawrence shook his head with a little click of his tongue. "It's okay. Let her sleep."

Leonard looked from his father to the sleeping girl. "You mean let her stay here overnight?"

"That's what I mean." His dad set his briefcase on the kitchen counter. "You see how much time she spends here. Don't you think that's for a reason?"

"Yeah, sure." He remembered that conversation, a couple of weeks back. He looked at her again. Her pale eyelashes were splayed on her cheeks, and her blonde hair trailed down each shoulder. She looked so different, so peaceful, this way. "So you think that's true? About how she doesn't need to come home?"

"Head on to bed,'' Lawrence said. "I'll take care of it if anything comes out of it."

"Yeah, okay," Leonard said, still just a touch confused. But if his dad thought it was a good idea, it was best just to roll with it. He headed back to his bedroom.

It turned out Lawrence was right—Allison's mother simply didn't seem to care. She thanked him when he went over to tell her that Allison had stayed over, and that was it. After that Allison crashing out on the couch became commonplace.

One evening she came over with a pack of cards. He turned on some music, and they settled in on the floor to use the coffee table to lay the cards on. "Let's play Slapjack," she suggested.

He shrugged. "Sure." He watched her as she dealt out half the cards to him, her hair flopping over her shoulder as she moved her arm back and forth. As they started to play he considered how to open the conversation. "You have a lot of stuff going on, huh? At home?"

She laid down her cards one at a time, not looking at him. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Hey, that's cool." He turned up a jack and slapped at the card, wincing when her hand landed on top of his. "That one's mine."

She pushed the pile in his direction. "I don't talk about that stuff. It's nobody's business."

He laid down a card. "Sure you do. I mean, you told Dad about some of it."

She waved off his words. "I didn't tell him anything that people don't already know."

"Oh. Okay." He had a slight frown on his face and glanced at her as he alternated laying his cards down with hers.

She nudged his hand. "Hey, watch yourself," she said, teasing just a bit. "I just don't put up with it, that's all. Like, there was this one time when I was a kid—the school counselor tried to get me to tell him about something that happened and I just kicked him in the shin and ran off."

"Why'd you do that?" he asked.

She kept her gaze on the cards, quickly slapping the pile when another jack turned up. "Because it was my problem, not his."

He shook his head. Even when she couldn't handle things, shouldn't have to, she handled them anyway. He wondered why she was like that.

She gestured at him. "Hey, can you get me another soda?" she asked.

He reached over to where they sat on the floor, between the table and the couch. His leg brushed against hers when he moved and he glanced at her as he returned to a sitting position and handed her a bottle. She took it, moving away from him slightly. "It's hot," she said, uncapping it and taking the first swallow.

"Yeah," he said, choosing to turn and take one for himself.

The conversation meandered then, and they were having fun, but he couldn't keep his mind off of her problems. The next time a jack turned up he didn't notice and she smacked his hand after smacking the stack of cards. She laughed. "Pay attention, idiot," she said. "You don't even care about the game, come on."

"Hey," he complained, his hand tingling from the strike. "I am paying attention."

"No, you're not." She grabbed his cards to shuffle and deal them back out.

She was right. He was sitting there thinking about her home life, all the details she refused to tell him. Why she was always running, why she'd chosen him to run to. He accepted the cards that she handed him and they started in playing another round.

"Come on, Leonard," she laughed after the round was over. "You're not getting into it."

He shrugged. "I don't want to play anymore."

"Oh, you're being such a pussy," she said. She picked up the stack of cards and started flicking them out in his direction. "Come on, Leonard. Pick 'em up."

"Aw, fuck," he groused. "Why'd you do that?" He pushed the cards back at her. "You're being an asshole. Stop it."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Then stop asking me about shit."

He didn't know she'd been doing that on purpose, but he knew now that he'd overstepped his bounds. What was it that made her wall that part of her life off from him—from everyone? He glanced away, then focused his gaze on her, worried and somehow feeling protective of her, not knowing what it was she even needed protection from.

Her expression hardened even more, her mouth set. "Stop looking at me like that." She tossed her head and rose to her feet, leaving her cards behind. "Forget it, I'm out."

He watched her go. He wished he could take it back, but he didn't realize what he'd done. Not until later. She was smart, she'd seen it in his eyes, what he didn't even know was happening.

It was stupid, they were only fourteen, but that was the night he started to fall in love with her.

After that she never came to stay the night anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

"What's going on?" Allison shoved in the front door and came to stand before Leonard, shoulders square, feet planted, impatient and demanding. "Where are you going?"

The look he gave her was part confused, part surprised. This had been the plan ever since they'd moved here. His father had always worked hard, and the move to Austin had been meant to improve their station in life. He'd gotten a job here with a prestigious architectural firm, with a significant pay raise from what he'd been earning in Atlanta. It had taken Lawrence just a couple of months to find a house that better met their needs in a somewhat nicer neighborhood. Now with the summer drawing to a close, they were making a quick work of moving again. Leonard was once again stuck with half of the task of moving their things, a box at a time, into a truck. He'd never made a point of telling her about it explicitly, but he also couldn't believe she'd never overheard any of the conversations about it. Even if most of the talk had taken place after she'd stopped spending so much time there.

"We're moving," he said, in a tone that covered up his discomfort with deadpan sarcasm. "That's what that truck is for."

She just shook her head, shooting him a dirty look. "People usually tell their _friends_ about that kind of stuff," she grumbled.

"I didn't think he needed your permission," he said. He was glad to know she cared about it, and he did feel bad that she'd evidently missed that fact. Though as he saw it, if she hadn't worked it out, it was her own fault—they never had fully unpacked.

"That's not what I said, jackass." She turned around, leaving in some other direction from her house.

"Allison!" he called after her. "Hey, come back!" But she wasn't that easily dissuaded when she decided to beat a retreat. And he knew attempting to chase her would do him no good. She was in better shape than him, and she knew the neighborhood a lot better.

"Goddamn it," he muttered.

"What was that?" Lawrence asked, returning to the house from inside the moving truck.

Leonard shook his head with a touch of exasperation. "Allison's just being a drama queen about us moving."

"She has a right to be upset," Lawrence said, turning to look at that house across the street. "You just let her know where we'll be living and make sure she knows I'm okay with her dropping by whenever she likes, okay?"

"Yeah. Next time I see her." Leonard worried he wouldn't see her again, though. They'd be finishing removing their things from the house in the morning and then they'd be gone.

He was in the kitchen later that evening when he heard it—footfalls on the porch. It was dark out. Only one person would be on their porch this late at night. He set down his takeout meal and stepped out the door, into the muggy Texas night. He gazed at the house across the street. There was nobody outside, but the lights were on and he could hear the bass pulsing from the music that was playing inside.

He didn't look around for her. He just started talking.

"I don't want to move away. But there's nothing I can do about it. If you're going to be pissed at me over it, that's your problem."

A shadow moved before him; Allison was in front of him, and she gave him a shove. Before he'd realized what was happening he had sprawled backwards, falling flat on his ass. He tried to sit up, tried to speak, but she jabbed his shoulder with her foot, causing him to fall back again.

"I fucking hate you," she hissed. Then she fled, dissolving into the night like a ghost.

He scowled after her, hunching with his arms around his knees before springing to his feet. Well, what the fuck ever. It wasn't as though he'd promised her he'd stick around. And she hadn't given him the chance to tell her where they were moving. Well, that was on her head.

Leonard stepped off the bus and up to his front porch, slinging off his backpack. He was starting to get used to this new place, but he missed the old one. He could go inside, but he didn't feel like starting on his homework yet. Instead, he picked up his basketball and approached the newly installed hoop, bouncing his ball a couple of times and shooting a basket, which he missed. He gathered up his ball again and dribbled it across the driveway, causing it to ping sharply against the pavement. She would have gotten on his case about missing that basket. As annoying as being teased for something like that was, it seemed far too quiet without her.

He was sitting on the porch seat when his father arrived from work—late, as usual. He was still getting established at the firm and it wasn't unusual for Leonard to be left to his own devices until seven or eight in the evening. "Hey," Leonard said as his father approached.

"Hey, Len. Had any dinner yet?" The answer became clear as he went to open the door. It was still locked.

"Nah. I was just sitting out here." Leonard pushed off the rocker and stood. "Didn't feel like doing anything."

"Which means you haven't done your homework." Lawrence led the way into the house and put his briefcase in the front closet. "You need to make sure you're getting these things done. I'm not going to be here to remind you in the afternoons, you know. You need to take responsibility for it."

He shrugged. "I just wanted to have some fun first."

"Taking a break is okay, but not all afternoon." Lawrence pulled a couple of dinner trays out of the freezer to heat up. They didn't typically keep them on hand, but with the move, the two of them had gotten used to the convenience.

"It wasn't any fun anyway," Leonard grumbled. "Too many little kids around here."

"Maybe Allison can come by this weekend. Have you tried asking her?"

Leonard flopped onto the couch. "She won't talk to me." School had been in session for a month now and he hadn't been able to get a hold of her in that time. They lived close enough that it wouldn't be too strenuous of a walk if she felt like visiting. But she ignored his calls and whenever they passed in the hallways at school she pointedly ignored him there too. She'd even gone out of her way earlier that day to cross the hall when he started to approach. He'd scowled and continued on his way. Well, fine, he thought, if she wanted to be like that. From now on he'd ignore her right back.

Lawrence set the meals on the table. "You can always drop by over there."

"No way, not with the way she's acting." Leonard got up to join his dad. He slouched back in his chair and started mixing his corn into his mashed potatoes up with his fork. Mashed potatoes in frozen meals were always so disgusting.

"Fair enough. Just keep it in mind, though."

Leonard rolled his eyes. As far as he was concerned there was nothing _to_ keep in mind. It was all over.

Life went on. Autumn went by, and winter. That February, he tried out for the freshman basketball team, and got picked. Mostly because of his height, he thought. He'd never had the best aim.

They started having practices in the evenings. And he noticed something strange. Allison was always there. She would sit in the top row of the bleachers, doing her homework. Was she there to watch him? He tried waving at her the first couple of times he saw her, but she wouldn't look up. If he tried to approach her before going back to the showers, she would abruptly grab her things and leave. Those times that he saw her looking at him out of the corner of his eye, when he looked up to blatantly catch her looking at him, she flipped him off. Well, that wasn't much of a change—she was just making about as much sense as she ever did. He could go right back to ignoring her if she was going to play that game.

Their first practice game was a scrimmage against the JV team. He was just about as tall as the older guys, but all of them were faster, and stronger, and were better at shooting baskets. And he soon realized that a number of them were bullies. They thought pounding the freshman team into the ground was a great pastime. And the fucking coach seemed to think that was perfectly fine. Leonard lost count of all the fouls the coach should have called on them. Some way to boost team morale.

After the JV team had gotten the chance to grind the freshmen into the floorboards, the coach called the end of practice and went into the locker room. Leonard grabbed his water bottle and towel and was on his way there when a couple of the JV guys blocked his way.

"Look at this guy," one of them said to the other, sneering at him. "You body-checked me, you asshole," he added, putting his hands on Leonard's shoulders and pushing him.

"Hey, Coach was letting you guys get away with anything you wanted, jackass," he countered. "I was just trying to give you a dose of your own medicine."

"Well, why don't you give it another try, maybe I'll be cured," he said sarcastically, giving Leonard another push.

He gritted his teeth. "You asked for it." Leonard wound back his fist and started to let it fly furiously.

Instead the friend of the older boy grabbed his arm and spun him round, catching Leonard by surprise. He punched Leonard in the mouth and the boy who had threatened him in the first place grabbed his basketball shorts and yanked them down. Being socked in the jaw had thrown him for a loop and one hand went to cradle his chin while the other grabbed blindly for the waistband of his shorts. The toolbags who had instigated the whole thing were already running off, laughing like hyenas.

"Hey, you motherfucking cocksuckers!"

Leonard's eyes widened. It couldn't be.

He spun around. It was.

Allison.

Beating the shit out of the guys who had pantsed him.

Watching her fight was truly a thing of beauty. Leonard finished pulling up his shorts and stayed stock-still, amazed at what he was seeing. Allison was faster than the bullies, and she seemed to know how to use their own moves against them, how to predict when their fists were going to fly or when they were going to try to double-team her or grab her from behind. She had them hitting each other at one point until they realized what they were doing and tried to orient themselves. By that time it was too late—she'd come around behind one of them and grabbed his arm, pinning it up behind his back. They were both breathing heavily, exhausted, and his friend made no move to defend him.

"You leave him alone," she growled in his ear, "or you'll answer to me again. Got me?"

"Yeah," he muttered, defeated.

She released his arm. "Get out of my sight."

The two went scrambling for the locker room and he was left alone with her, dabbing at his lip with a finger. He could feel it bleeding.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Next time you better be able to defend yourself, asshole."

Leonard couldn't let that go unchallenged. Was she really assuming he had needed her to intervene? He hardened his face into a haughty expression. "I had it under control, bitch."

"Clearly," she scoffed, walking back to where she had dropped her school bag. "Don't bother to thank me. I won't be there next time."

He probably should have kept his mouth shut, right there. Or even thanked her. But instead he smirked. "What are you talking about, obviously you can't stay away."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, moron. It's just somewhere for me to be until I have to go home."

He gave her a cocky smile. "Uh-huh, sure. Tell you what… I'll walk you home tonight if you stick around. Bet you will."

She snorted. "Keep telling yourself that, Leonard."

"Just watch," he said. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

Even so, he rushed his way through the shower. Somehow he knew his prediction was wrong. He knew that when he came out of the locker room, she would be gone.

He never saw her at another one of his practices.

* * *

Author's notes may be found on my tumblr at texelations dot tumblr dot com. Search for keystone and you will find the author's notes linked to the individual chapters.


	3. Chapter 3

His first mistake had been in volunteering to be a tutor.

After all, he wasn't the most patient of guys. That was part of the reason he wasn't acing the class to begin with. The homework was easy, and it bored him, and he never quite managed to complete it before it was time to turn it in.

Actually, no, his first mistake had been in trying to skate in this class in the first place. He'd just kind of assumed he was getting an A until the midterm report came out and showed a B. And he did have his ambitions, which meant getting all As was important. It was his senior year, after all. Tutoring now was giving him a chance to earn extra credit, but he still had to make sure to do all his work from here on out.

No, wait. His first mistake had been… had been…

"Leonard, what the hell is wrong with you?"

He glanced over at her. One of Allison's eyebrows was raised, and she tapped her paper with her pencil. "You can't let yourself trail off like that when you're explaining this to me."

"I didn't trail off, you're just not paying attention." He shook his head and shifted in his chair to lean a little closer to her. He should have known he'd end up tutoring Allison, of all people. Somehow over their years of high school they had never had a class together, yet they always seemed to pass in the hallways somewhere on the way, always seemed to end up in the same lunch period, and always, always, had this antagonistic kind of friendship, that, well, he didn't even know if _she_ considered it a friendship.

So he didn't understand why, when they sat down next to one another at one of the lab tables and the physics teacher, Mr. Lucci, left them to do their work in order to take care of other errands, Leonard found his hands shaking slightly. He knew he'd developed a little bit of a crush on her, but he didn't know it was like this. It took a lot of his concentration just to breathe normally. Now that he'd moved, she was almost, but not quite, near enough for her leg to brush against his, and she just smelled…really good. Her hair swung down when she leaned forward to write something on her paper and swept lightly against his hand. It was long and silky; he had a momentary urge to pull a lock of it through his fingertips.

At least he had the assurance of knowing that Allison had no idea what he was thinking about. That was something he'd learned somewhere along the way; people have a cognitive bias that other people can read what they're thinking about, but most of the time—

"Leonard, fuck, if you're not going to even listen to what you're saying, why am I here at all?"

Now she was actually getting pretty irritated. He cleared his throat and sat back the way he had been before. "I told you, you're the one that needs to pay some fucking attention. You got that formula written down wrong." He jabbed at her paper with his pencil and gouged it.

She yanked her paper away. "Shut up, asshole." She erased it, started again, rubbed her forehead for a moment. "Show it to me again? I forget the variables."

"Look, right here." He flipped the page of his notebook. Like many of the pages inside, it was already doodled upon, but he simply found a blank spot and started writing the formula out again.

She leaned closer and he couldn't help it, his eyes gravitated toward the collar of her shirt. It had gapped a little lower, just a slight dip, just enough that from this angle—

"Leonard." She pointed at his paper. "Why is my name written here, huh?"

She was laughing now, and he flipped to the next page, irritated, shooting her a glare. "It wasn't."

"Oh, you liar! I saw it." She kicked the toe of her tennis shoe against his ankle. "And don't think I didn't notice you looking down my shirt. You couldn't be more obvious if you tried."

Figured she'd call him out on that. He scowled and pulled his notebook further away to start writing the formula again. "Look, watch me work this problem and you better get it right this time."

The more he tried to button himself down, the worse it got. Now his voice was trembling, just a little, and he was sweating. Was he truly that smitten? He didn't want her to know, didn't want her to keep teasing him about it, because Allison absolutely would hold this over his head and make his life miserable. It wasn't like he could sit here and explain it to her—how he purposely let her tease him so he could hear her laugh, how he felt himself flush just a little when she glanced his way, how jealous he became when he noticed she was on the arm of some other guy.

And judging by the smirk on her face, the way she kept staring at him now, she wasn't fooled for one second. His gaze flickered to hers and he trailed off, a slight frown on his face, and he cleared his throat, looking down at his paper.

"You don't have to be shy, Leonard." Her tone was teasing, but it held a challenge, too, and he knew the smug expression she must be wearing. "Want to share your innermost thoughts?"

"No," he said, angling his head toward her for an instant but not meeting her gaze, returning it to the sheet of paper in front of him. "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" She snorted and pushed her arm against his, causing him to leave a slash of graphite on his paper.

"What do you want me to say, Allison?" he asked, this time looking at her, irritated with her for pushing it, asking him to say something when by now he knew full well she had caught on to his infatuation, and he was going to lay his hand on her arm, to meet her shove for shove—

But instead she reeled him in and she was kissing him, or maybe he had kissed her; afterward he could never remember exactly. Now, it wasn't that he was inexperienced. It wasn't like he was going to wait around his whole life for Allison to deign to give him any attention, after all. He'd gone out on plenty of dates, kissed plenty of girls (well, a few) in his time. But it must have been because he'd been anticipating this for so very long, because he pressed into it too eagerly, hands fumbling too awkwardly, to come off as though he knew what he was doing. She chuckled against his mouth and moved her hands around his waist, turning in her chair, and set one of her legs between his knees. He let out a sound, a nervous, shaky, pleased grunt, and this time she laughed openly.

"I didn't know you were so innocent, Leonard," she teased, and pressed back in, taking the lead more firmly now, moving a hand to the back of his head.

No, nope, his first mistake was in letting this happen in an empty physics classroom. He should have asked her out a long time ago and this could be happening somewhere a lot more advantageous, somewhere where she'd let him get away with moving his hands up her waist like _this_, finger at the hem of her shirt as he pushed it out of the way, slide his hands on her skin, oh fuck her skin was so soft and it felt so nice he just wanted to—

"A-hem."

The two of them pulled apart with haste, Leonard guiltily flushing and turning sullenly toward his paper, as though pretending nothing had been seen would somehow fix things. Allison remained in place, sitting upright, coolly crossing her legs.

Mr. Lucci, thankfully, seemed inclined to let the incident pass by. At least it seemed that way when he sat down at his desk and merely raised his eyebrow at them before beginning work on something or other. It wasn't until after Leonard had managed to recover, clearing his throat and shifting back into his chair, that Mr. Lucci arose and handed each of them a piece of paper. "You've been reassigned to another tutor, Allison. Leonard, I'll let you know if I have another student who needs your assistance."

Leonard took the slip quietly, folding it into a square after skimming it over, and stuck it in his pocket. Somehow that extra credit didn't seem so important now.

* * *

In the end it turned out his biggest mistake was in not walking her to her locker.

Leonard maneuvered his car—an older model, in some disrepair, motor growling with the strain of being forced to continue running when it should have long ago given up the ghost—out of the student parking lot, his mind still lingering on the feeling of Allison's lips on his. By the time he'd returned to his locker and gotten his stuff packed for the day, he'd lost track of her. But he figured she couldn't have gotten too far. He knew she didn't have a car of her own, but hopefully she'd used one of the doors on this side—this was the direction her house was in, at least if she still lived in that place. He kept scanning the nearby premises, first as he made his way out to his car, and now as he made his way farther from the building. He couldn't help it—he needed to talk to her about what had happened. Normally, their outward relationship seemed to be all about contention and insults. Now he wanted nothing more than to learn what this would change. Maybe this was the start of a whole new phase for them.

But there was something he just couldn't account for. Why had she taken that risk in the first place? If it weren't for Mr. Lucci's practicality they would have both been in a lot more trouble. At least the teacher had understood how little good assigning in-school suspension for a thing like that would do. But his solution had left Leonard with little choice than to do what he was doing now. There was no way he was going to try to talk to her about this at lunch.

He pulled his car down the street she should have taken to get to her house—hoping to intercept her and offer her a ride—but he didn't see her anywhere. He didn't mean to go as far as her street, but before he knew it he found himself turning the corner. He realized then that he was just going to end up driving all the way to her house, and gave in to the fact that he'd missed her. He pulled his car up in front once he'd arrived and waited a while. He could hear people talking inside. Raucous laughter echoed down the street. He had waited plenty of time for her to appear. _Where is she?_

Leonard rose and walked up the broken concrete walkway to the door. He could see into the room through the storm door. All the shades were down and a couple was draped over each other on the couch, holding beer bottles. The coffee table was covered in ashtrays and discarded packages of food. He knocked and Allison's mother appeared from the passage that led to the kitchen in the back of the house. She was whip thin, with short blond hair that was tucked behind her ears. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her lips pursed, her tone of voice sharp when she spoke. "What do you want?"

He remembered her name—it was Alina—but he had barely known her, considering the way Allison was always avoiding going home. Hopefully his presence here wasn't seen as too untoward. "Hi. Ah. I was just looking for Allison. Has she gotten home from school yet?"

Alina looked at him coldly for a moment. "Who the hell are you?"

"Leonard Church. You know…I used to live across the street?"

"Oh?" Alina gave him another look, but that seemed to placate her enough for her to offer up an answer. "I haven't seen Allison in a while. You might try back later."

He glanced back at his car. "Okay. So…sometime after dinner, maybe?"

"No." Alina shook her head, scoffing slightly. "I don't think she'll come back that soon."

At least he'd have time to run home and eat. "Is it okay for me to stop back later on, then?"

This time Alina let out a little bark of laughter. "No. She won't be around until the next time she wears out her welcome wherever it is she's staying right now. Could be, oh…two weeks, two months… No way of telling."

Leonard's heart turned to ice in his chest. "So…Allison doesn't actually live here?"

"Only when it's convenient for her." Alina laughed, her voice raspy. "She's got a mind of her own, that's for sure."

Leonard shook his head in disbelief. "I'll just try back some other time." He turned and walked back to his car. The din of the usual neighborhood noise faded into the background as the memories danced just behind his vision. He started his car and started weaving up and down the streets, finding their old haunts. The empty lot that had once been her favorite abandoned house, now torn down. There was the alley where they used to take turns riding his skateboard. The field where they'd watch the neighborhood kids playing kickball.

_Allison, where are you?_ He continued to weave through the streets until dusk, unwilling to give up until he was forced to flick on his headlights.

* * *

Author's notes may be found on my tumblr at texelations dot tumblr dot com. Search for keystone and you will find the author's notes linked to the individual chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, Len," Lawrence said with a slight chuckle when he came in the door. "Were you waiting on me?"

"Yeah." Leonard had stood when his father entered the house and he shut off the program he was watching on the wall terminal. "I, uh. Wanted to talk to you about something."

Lawrence put his briefcase away and approached the kitchen to start his dinner. He started a pan on the heat and got some stir-fry vegetables out. "Something about school?"

"Not really." Leonard came over and leaned on the kitchen counter. "I just found out Allison's homeless."

"That's a shame." Lawrence dropped the vegetables in the pan. "I thought the two of you didn't get along."

Leonard shrugged. "We get along about as well as we did when we were neighbors. You know how she is."

"I recall." Lawrence turned to stir the food he'd put in the pan. "Is there a reason you're bringing this up?"

Might as well take the plunge. He'd always been able to be open with his father, even if he didn't always take the option. "Well, we do have a spare bedroom."

Lawrence didn't divert his eyes from the work his hands were doing. "Ah, I see. That's quite a request, Len."

"I know." A piece of fruit would be a good distraction and Leonard turned to the fridge to get out an orange.

"And her mother, she's homeless too?"

Leonard scoffed. "No. Allison just refuses to live in her house, and her mom doesn't care."

Lawrence thought for a long moment, turning the vegetables and pouring another touch of oil into the pan, before finally responding. "You need to consider what you're asking. Charity always has a price."

Leonard gave his father a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, for example, inviting someone else to stay here means another mouth to feed. Someone using a third of the utilities."

Leonard made a sound of protest. "You mean you're going to charge her rent? What's the point then?"

Lawrence turned his gaze to look at Leonard. "Whether to charge her rent is up to you. If you don't want to, you need to handle that responsibility yourself."

Leonard started separating his orange into sections. "You mean I have to get a job?"

Lawrence scooped his food onto a plate. "And you have to keep your grades up. You know how you procrastinate on your homework. That's not going to be an option anymore."

"All right," Leonard said with a sigh. This was getting to be a lot more complicated than he'd been expecting. It would make things harder on him but so far, well, he felt he could shoulder that responsibility. It was going to be worth it. Making sure Allison stayed safe was important to him.

There was another long pause before Lawrence spoke again. "You need to be responsible about your friendship, too. She's going to think you have your expectations."

Leonard made a noise of confusion. "What?" he asked, although what his father meant was already dawning on him.

"She's going to expect you to pressure her for a relationship, Len. If she decides she'd like one, that's up to her, but if I get the sense in any capacity that you're pressuring her you're going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah," Leonard said. He wasn't surprised his father would address this so bluntly. He fidgeted a bit, pulling more sections off the orange and popping one in his mouth. He couldn't deny he'd had a few thoughts about what it could mean to be sleeping across the hall from her.

Lawrence moved to the table with his plate. "If something does develop, you need to be responsible about that, too. You know I'm willing to supply you with condoms any time you need them."

They'd had that talk enough times. It wasn't like he needed the repetition. Leonard picked up the last slices of his orange from the counter and cupped them in his hand. "I get the picture."

"Good. This all starts now. You ought to start on your homework."

Leonard resisted making a sound of exasperation. "I'm about to." He had a lot to consider now. He'd have to be careful about how he made this invitation. He knew how Allison was. If she got defensive the whole thing would be a waste.

* * *

The next day he sat at his usual table at lunch. A night and a day left him unsure of what to think of the events of yesterday. He wasn't ready to approach her, but he kept glancing at her, not exactly trying to catch her eye. But she noticed him looking at her, and flipped him off, smirking. He grinned. He didn't quite understand it. Here she was, acting the way she always did toward him.

"Hey, Church," his friend, Jimmy, said from beside him.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning his gaze from the blonde across the cafeteria.

Jimmy grinned. "Just making sure you still knew I was here."

"Well, you didn't move." Leonard glanced Allison's direction before taking a bite of his food. Her attention was elsewhere now as she laughed and talked with her friends.

"Allison didn't move either," Jimmy said, laughing.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "I know." It was hard to keep himself from glancing over now and then though, even after being teased about it.

He was relieved when the final bell rang at the end of the day. He was ready this time, and packed everything up before his final class. This time he was able to head right for the hallway her locker was in.

By the time he reached it, she was already heading for an exit, and he sped his strides. "Allison! Allison, wait up!"

She glanced back, and then continued walking. After that she didn't show any sign that she could hear him calling. He broke into a jog and beat her to the door to hold it open for her. "Hey, Allison. Hey!" She breezed past him. "I want to talk to you."

"Obviously." She glanced at him again, this time to her side. "What the hell for?"

"You know." He tilted his head with a half-shrug. "About yesterday? That whole thing where you grabbed me and kissed me?"

"I wasn't the one doing the grabbing," she said, a wry curve to her lips. "And I don't see the point."

He had figured she would say something like that. "You were grabbing me just as much as I was grabbing you. I think we're even on that score."

She waved dismissively. "I wasn't keeping score."

"If you were keeping score, you'd have to admit it'd be pretty high." Except for that whole over-eager thing he'd had going on at first. But that wasn't the point. "Besides, look. Maybe you don't want to talk about it? But you can at least let me give you a ride and pick you up a burger."

She laughed. "You can't be serious."

"Can't ask for better company." He looked to the side to gauge her expression. She did seem to be wavering. Which was something he'd been counting on. "Come on, you know you want to."

She sighed. And she smiled. "I don't think I agree about the company. But I'll take you up on that. _If_ you buy me dinner." She had that mischievous sparkle in her eye, and he knew his wallet was going to be hurting after this. He felt sort of bad about bribing her into it. But at least she had agreed.

* * *

Leonard sat in silence as Allison ate. He had tried talking to her for a while, but ever since she got her food, she wasn't really acknowledging anything he said. Finally she was polishing off that second burger and sucking back the last of her soda, and her gaze finally fell on him.

"So…?" Her meal seemed to lift her spirits and there was her teasing smile. "What happened to talking? I know you're not giving up that easily."

"Who said I'm giving up?" He pulled out his wallet again. "You still want that sundae?"

Allison stretched, her back arching, before she relaxed into her seat again. "I'm a little full right now."

He shrugged and tucked his wallet away again, then set his hand on the gearshift to begin pulling out of the parking lot.

She batted at his arm. "Wait, what are you doing? I still want the ice cream."

"Just driving around. We can come back." He wasn't going to say so, but he was concerned that she'd just run off on him if he brought this up while they were parked. Plus if he was driving he didn't have to worry about the awkwardness of looking her in the face.

She crossed her arms and slouched further. "So? Talk, idiot."

He removed a hand from the steering wheel to fiddle with the gearshift. How was he supposed to bring this up? Might as well just plunge in. "So, listen. I stopped by your place yesterday. Talked to your mom."

She frowned, her expression darkening. "…About what?"

"Stuff. Mostly about where it is you're staying."

Now she was closing herself off. Her arms were still crossed and she sat up higher. "It's none of your business. And you're a nosy bastard."

"I made it my business. You'll just have to learn to live with the fact that someone cares that much," he said.

Allison raised an eyebrow, scoffing. "What the hell are you talking about? I thought I was just some slut as far as you were concerned."

He shook his head in disbelief, glancing over at her for as long as he dared while driving. She was looking away from him. Did she really think that? Leonard didn't know why she would. But she still hadn't responded, so he plowed ahead. "So? _Do_ you have anywhere to stay?"

There was a long pause while Allison studied the view out the window. "Look. Leonard," she finally replied. "I don't know what you're hoping for—"

"I just want to make sure you're safe."

Now she looked at him. He didn't look at her but he could tell from her tone that she had an eyebrow raised in skepticism. "Yeah. Right."

"You don't believe that? Do you remember that summer I lived across from you or not? Me and dad, that's what we both wanted to make sure of. You didn't want to go home for _some_ reason, right?"

This question was met with a stony stare.

"Huh," he said. "You still haven't answered me."

After a pause, Allison scoffed in exasperation. "Okay, look. I've been staying with this guy Randy, but he's my ex, and he got mad at me a couple of days ago. He kicked me out. And…I slept in mom's crawl space last night."

"You've been staying in the _crawl space_?" Leonard drew his lips back, aghast. What a horrible place to try and sleep.

"Only when I have to," she said defensively.

He glanced at her. "How often do you have to?"

She didn't answer, just shaking her head with a roll of her eyes. "Okay, look. I'm considering your offer. If it is an offer."

"Well, yeah," he said with a shrug. "I asked my dad about it. You know how open we are about stuff. He said that if you need a place to stay…"

She threw her crumpled burger wrapper at his head. "How do you get away with this kind of shit?"

He shot her a smirk. "I lead a charmed life, babe."

"Okay, number one? Don't call me that. And I don't believe itfor a second."

"Just watch, and you'll see," he teased, pulling back into the ice cream shop's parking area. "Come on, let's get you that sundae."

She laughed. "What, you're going to get me a magic sundae?"

"Just come on," he said, getting out of the car to lead the way in. They entered and Leonard walked up to the counter. The owner, Will, was a friend of his father's, and after their conversation the night before Lawrence had called Will to see if he had room on his payroll for Leonard. It was still up in the air, but it was pretty certain that Leonard would end up working here soon.

Will grinned. "Hello there, Leonard. Here for a treat?"

"Yeah." He inclined his head toward Allison. "She wants a sundae."

"Black cherry with fudge," Allison ordered.

"Good choice." Will winked at her and started to scoop her order up. "What about you, Leonard?"

"Oh, no thanks," he said.

"You sure? You want one, it's on the house." Will handed Allison her order and turned to Leonard. "Two for one, come on, you can't resist, can you?"

Leonard shot Allison a grin. That had happened pretty much exactly the way he'd predicted. Allison shook her head at him. "Not today, Will. I'll take a raincheck."

Will wiped his hands with a towel. "If you're sure. Don't say I didn't offer."

Leonard paid for the ice cream and the two of them made their way to the exit, Allison leading the way. "Oh, Leonard," Will called after him, and Leonard stopped, halfway through the door. "I let your dad know to tell you you'd be starting Saturday at ten o'clock. Make sure not to be late."

"I won't," he said, beginning to move forward again. "Thanks," he added, waving as he made his way out. Being responsible, he reminded himself as he joined Allison in his car. That was what this whole deal hinged on, and he didn't intend to screw it up.


	5. Chapter 5

Allison was contentedly munching on her ice cream as Leonard pulled up to his house. "Here it is," he said.

"No shit, I thought you were just stopping at a random house." She peered at the house through the window, taking the last scrapings of ice cream from the edges of the dish. "Looks nice," she added. "Too bad I've never been here before."

He cut the engine and pocketed his keys. "Hey, I've lived here for three years. Nothing was stopping you."

She scoffed, just a little, and gave him a look, handing him her empty sundae cup. "We'll just say it was easier to visit when you lived across the street."

He accepted it with mild confusion. "It's not like you needed an engraved invitation."

"I didn't get any invitation at all." She pulled on the door handle and got out of the car.

He followed suit, walking around the car to open the back door to retrieve their bags. "Never stopped you before."

"Yeah, well, like I said, it's different when the person you're going to be dropping in on is your neighbor." He came even with her, where she stood with her arms crossed.

"What?" he asked, following her gaze to the front of the house.

She shrugged. "Like I said, it looks nice. You really came up in the world."

He scoffed. "It's just a house." Yes, nicer than the neighborhood she lived in, but he didn't think the differences were too significant. He looked over at it, tried to see what it was that she saw. Nope, just a house. "You wanna go in or are we gonna stand here all day?"

She started for the door. "Just so you know, I know how this all works. I can take care of my business."

"I don't know what else you think I'd expect." When they reached the door he reached in his pocket for his keys with his free hand, trying to keep the bags balanced on his shoulder. "I mean, there are things to talk about but nothing complicated."

She leaned up against the doorframe. "Then talk about it."

"Just give me a minute, Allison." Doing this one-handed wasn't working. The damned key ring insisted on flipping over just when he had the key in reach. "We can talk inside."

"You look like an idiot." She grabbed the keys out of his fumbling fingers and brandished them. "Which one is it?"

"Goddammit." Leonard lost his grip on the bags when she yanked the keys out of his hand and they fell onto the porch. He heaved an exasperated sigh as he picked the bags back up. "It's the gold one that's on the same ring as my car keys."

Allison unlocked the door and sauntered into the house. "Wow, look at this place. It's like…" She frowned. "Clean."

He shrugged, following. What had she expected? "That's what happens when you can pay someone to vacuum." He didn't bother to mention the person who got paid to clean was himself. Leaving it at that sounded more impressive. He approached the trash can and threw her sundae cup inside.

Allison had wandered into the kitchen and was rooting around in the fridge. Finally, she grabbed an apple and bit into it. "I thought we were talking now."

"What are you, starving to death?" He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. It could very well be true. She shot him a look but didn't respond. He cleared his throat, nodding toward the stairs. "Come with me and I'll show you around," he said, shouldering his bag and holding the strap of hers in both hands.

"Right," she said. "You want to talk _upstairs_." She bumped him as she walked by, leading the way.

He trudged up after her. "Yeah, upstairs, that's where the bedrooms are."

"Mhm." Once she scaled the stairs she stopped before the first door, which was open, and laughed."Oh, fuck, you still have those bunk beds? Let me guess, I'm sleeping on the top bunk?"

"Yeah, no, my dad isn't _that_ laid back." He gestured toward the room further down the hallway, across the way from his. "You're staying in the guest room."

She eyed him. "Yeah, okay."

"What?" he asked, holding out the strap of her bag for her to take.

She took the bag and held the strap in one hand, her apple still clutched in the other. "Nothing."

"Sure," he said. It was easy to see there was something bothering her, and it was kind of easy to guess what, too. Maybe he shouldn't have made that joke about why she wouldn't be sleeping in his room. "Anyway, there's some stuff in the dresser that Dad keeps for guests. Toothbrushes and stuff."

"I have a toothbrush," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Is there anything else I should know?"

He shrugged. "We can work things out as we go along."

"Yeah, I guess 'we' can do that." She shouldered her bag and turned to go into her room. "Don't worry, I've stayed in plenty of people's houses, I know what that means."

"You know what what means?" he asked, confused. It wasn't like he was trying to be cryptic.

"I'm good at compromise, that's all." She used her hip to bump the door open. "You going to join me?"

"Uh. Okay." He followed her and stood in the doorway to watch her sling her bag onto the dresser. He felt slightly uncomfortable, unsure why she had asked him to come with her. "There might be some other stuff in there too, I don't know." That was the sort of thing his dad would do, just buy a few things specifically for her to make her feel at home.

She opened the top drawer, setting her apple down. There was the package containing the toothbrush, as expected, along with some shampoo and a hairbrush, and— "Pajamas," she said flatly, pulling the bundle out of the drawer. She lifted the top by the shoulders to let it hang from her fingertips. "They're not very sexy, Leonard."

"They're not meant to be," he said defensively. "I mean," he added quickly, "I mean I didn't put them there. Dad must have just gotten some stuff he thought you'd need."

She dropped the pajamas back in the drawer and shut it. "I guess I need to thank him then." Her tone was dry. Was she being sarcastic?

He rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, you do, actually, because none of this would be happening if he hadn't said it was okay."

"I know," she said. "You just going to stand there?"

"I mean, I guess so. Why?"

She watched him for a moment, her head tilted, then she moved her bag to the bed. "Have it your way, then."

"You're the one who called me over here," he reminded her.

She laughed. "All right, Leonard. Come in," she said, crooking a beckoning finger at him.

He frowned. "What are you doing?"

"What are _you_ doing?" she asked, frustrated. "Either come in or leave me alone."

Well, he knew what he preferred between those two options. He stepped into the room and let the door close behind him.

"All right," she breathed. "That's what I thought."

"What's what you thought?" he said, watching her warily as she turned to face him. There was a tension in his midsection, and he had a sense he knew exactly what she was thinking, the same thing his father had warned him she'd be thinking, and the larger part of him didn't mind it one bit that she was about to come on to him. The look on her face was almost predatory.

"You know," she said, and he did, he really did.

"Allison," he said, his voice coming slowly, because oh God, was it hard to think when every animal instinct in him told him to follow her lead here. "You know, I'm not looking for that."

"You're looking for _something_ or you wouldn't be in here."

"Yeah," he said, then shook his head. "No, look, Allison. I know you know I like you. I kind of hoped you did too, you know? 'Cause of when you kissed me?"

She snickered. "It was just a kiss, Leonard."

"Exactly. Just a kiss." He swallowed. He was no innocent—he'd been in a previous relationship and he knew what kind of dance it took to get from kissing to something more serious. And this wasn't what that looked like. "Allison, listen, I uh…I didn't do this to try to make you hook up with me. Okay? It's just 'cause I wanted you to have a safe place to stay. That's all."

Her expression had softened and she paused to pass a hand through the front of her hair. "And you don't want anything in return?" she asked.

"Nuh, I mean, I wouldn't _mind_ it. I'm cool with it if, you know, if it's something you really want."

"Ah." She dropped her arms and rolled her eyes. "Right."

Okay, that had come out wrong. "That's not what I meant," he said. "I mean I want something, but not _that_."

"Mhm. All out of the goodness of your heart, I got it."

"Yeah," he said lamely.

She raised her eyebrow, and she gave him a little nudge on the arm. "Well, if you're not looking for anything why don't you get out?"

He sighed, turning to leave, his steps reluctant. He gave her one last backward glance, and headed into his room. He felt let-down and heady both at the same moment and he knew coming down from the subtle arousal he'd experienced was going to be difficult. It would be easy, far too easy, to go across the hall and tell her he'd changed his mind. He locked his door and sat down on the edge of his bed, shoving his face into his hands. She had almost seemed offended that he didn't plan to use her for sex. He clenched his eyes shut. This was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever done.


	6. Chapter 6

Somehow, Leonard found it within himself to drive her to Randy's house the next day so she could pick up her things. He stayed in the car, though. He remembered who Randy was now. He lived a few doors down from Allison's mother's house, and he was about ten years older than the two of them. Leonard had always been kind of skeeved out by the guy.

When Allison came out of the house she had one box, and that was all. She placed it in his trunk and slammed the door after she entered the passenger seat of the car. "And that's that," she said. "What a total jackass."

"He's a fuckwad," Leonard said. "I don't know what you were doing with him."

She shrugged. "It's over now."

With that he pulled away from the curb, happy to leave that old neighborhood behind. He'd be glad never to have to spend time there ever again.

"You going to want help taking that inside?" he asked when they'd reached the house.

"You're kidding, right?" She poked at his bicep, then flexed her own arm. "I got it. Just try not to let the breeze knock you over, okay?"

"Just trying to be nice," he said. "You don't have to be a bitch about it."

She laughed, a disbelieving chuckle. "Since when are you nice?"

"I'm not, come to think of it. Good thing you reminded me." When they went inside she disappeared into her bedroom, and he decided to make sure he didn't bother her. He made dinner for them instead. What a pain it was, this whole being responsible thing. And it was just the start.

For the next two days she met him out at his car after school for the ride to his house, already settled into the passenger seat. They hadn't really spoken about it, but it seemed that she was comfortable to stay with him for now. He was grateful for that. He wanted to protect her from her old life, keep her safe. She should never have to suffer hardship again.

On the third day, he expected things to be the same, but here he was, watching as most of the student body walked out of the school and most of the cars had pulled away. It was Friday, so there was a mass exodus that was not seen on the other days of the week.

Allison had not been in any of the places he usually saw her after lunch period. In reality, he knew that she had skipped out of school at some point, but he waited for her anyway. Eventually he gave into facts and climbed into the driver's seat, his movements reluctant. It wasn't like she was obligated to stay with him. And he knew that.

Upon arriving, as he walked up to his house, considering how he would approach her the next time he saw her, he became dimly aware that he could hear music, thumping through the walls of the house. Opening the front door confirmed what he was hearing, and laughter and talking filtered into his ears from the stairwell. He frowned, setting his bag down. One of the voices was low-pitched. _I can't believe she brought some guy here._

He trudged up the stairs. He could tell now that the sounds were coming from his room and not hers. The door was open and as he crested the top of the staircase he quickly began to regret his approach. Allison was facing the open doorway, straddled over Randy, who was lying on Leonard's weight bench. Her shirt was unbuttoned, and the lacy fabric of her bra peeked out. His eyes didn't linger on that, though it normally would have been a welcome sight. Instead he gripped the doorjamb, disgusted and angry.

"Hey, Leonard!" Allison laughed, seemingly enjoying his discomfort. Randy's head craned to look in his direction. "You want to watch? It'll be the next best thing to being able to fuck me yourself!"

Leonard felt rage climbing his face, a red flush betraying his anger. He was too angry to speak.

Allison's eyebrows lifted and she rested her hands on Randy's chest to lean forward and leer. "What's wrong? I thought you said you weren't looking for anything from me." She was still laughing like a jovial drunk, but Leonard could tell now how much of it was an act. Her eyes were like stone—she was in complete control of herself. She was trying to get at him, make him hurt.

Leonard pressed his lips into a thin line, finally regaining his faculties well enough to speak. "You know _damn_ well what I said, Allison. I'm not going to ask you to do anything you don't want to do. And if you want to be with Randy, fine. You want to fuck him? You do it in your room, not mine."

Leonard slammed the door, overhearing the beginning of an argument, but not caring. He rushed back down the stairs. He didn't know if he wanted to hit something, throw something, or, well, throw something while he hit it. Actually he wanted to rip out Allison's esophagus and stomp on it.

Instead he went out into the driveway and picked up his basketball. He dribbled it like he was trying to knock all the air out of it. He made a pounding throw toward the backboard. The ball bounced off wildly, eventually ceasing to bounce as it rolled into the grass. Leonard plunked himself down right on the pavement. He realized angry tears had clouded his vision and he rubbed his face to get rid of them. Yes, he'd known she was capable of this kind of thing, but he had hoped…

He raised his fist to his forehead. It wasn't like Allison was going to forget how she was raised, everything she learned as she grew up. He knew her childhood hadn't been ideal, but even her desire to escape from her mother's home in her own measure didn't mean she was free of its influence.

Soon after, Randy opened the front door of the house, exiting with a slam. "Good luck with that bitch," he said. "You know she told me this was her father's house?" He scoffed and took a drink from the bottle of alcohol he'd carried out of the house with him. "You can have her, I don't want anything else to do with her."

Leonard stood as Randy spoke and crossed his arms. "Well, good; you're no good for her anyway."

Randy laughed. "_I'm_ no good for _her? _She's just like her damn mother. You let her stay here, she'll turn it into a whorehouse."

Leonard took a step forward and let his tall frame tower over the older man. "Get the hell off my property."

"Yeah, waste your energy defending that trash. I'm outta here." Randy swung around and headed off. Leonard watched as Randy walked unsteadily to the end of the street and turned the corner.

He rubbed the back of his neck. He was still angry and he didn't want to go inside only to find Allison half-undressed in his bedroom. Not after this. He got in his car and drove away, looking for escape so he could think this through. His mind raced in circles. In some ways he wished he'd never learned about her situation, but that would have just left her in it. Even being as upset as he was with her, he couldn't bring himself to wish he hadn't. He hated her right now but that didn't mean he was okay with leaving her to rot in that situation.

Eventually, he had no choice but to return. He pulled back up to the house after more than an hour of aimless driving and approached the front door. With a resigned sigh he opened it and went inside. Everything was silent now. He treaded cautiously up the stairs. She was no longer in his room. Good. A few days ago, all he'd wanted was for her to stay. Now he didn't even want to see her face.

* * *

It was more than an hour later when Leonard looked up at the sound of rapping on his bedroom door. It took him a few moments to register what was going on, finally arising at the second tap. He was fairly sure he was going to see Allison standing there when he opened the door, and not his father. He wasn't sure how he was going to react to her, but he could never ignore her.

Allison looked somehow raw when he opened the door, her hair pushed back off of her forehead and her brow creased. She'd showered and changed into the lightweight pajamas that had been in her drawer the other day, apparently planning to go to bed. "Hey," she said.

"What?" He didn't sound as short as he meant to. Maybe it was the vulnerability of her coming to him like this, but as soon as he saw her his irritation with her had already begun to fade.

"Need to talk to you," she said, looking away a little with a shrug.

"Yeah. Come in." This had better be good, that was all he knew. He sat down on the edge of the bed, kicking the desk chair a little closer for her to sit in.

Instead she stood in front of him, holding her elbows. "Look…I'm sorry. About earlier. I don't know why I did that." She licked her lips. "I really expected you to kick me out."

He let out a small snort. "If you want to leave, all you have to do is say so."

"I don't, though. I…" She sighed and shrugged. "Thanks for not doing it, anyway."

"Just…don't do anything like that again." Because he wouldn't be able to handle seeing her like that with another guy again. He could barely handle it this time. He was probably crazy for not doing exactly what she'd said. He figured she at least deserved one more chance.

"I won't." She stepped forward and sat down next to him. "You shouldn't put up with me."

He fended off a fleeting desire to tell her to get up or simply push her away. He swallowed heavily instead, seeking inside himself for that anger he'd felt before, for that revulsion. It was fading into oblivion with each passing moment. He glanced over at her. Maybe he was crazy. What was it about her that did this to him? "Yeah, well; maybe I like putting up with you. It's like a hobby."

"Well, you shouldn't." She sighed and then pulled away from him, pushing back further onto his bed, sitting cross-legged. "You mind if I stay?"

"Uh, no." He was about to scoot back and join her but before he got the chance she swooped back and stretched out on top of the blanket.

"You sure?" she asked, crossing her arms at the wrist, playing demurely with the hem of the pajama top, smoothing it down.

His eyes skimmed over her as he turned more fully to face her, resting one knee on the edge of the bed. "I said you could stay, didn't I?"

She smiled slightly. "You know, Leonard, I'm glad you found out about what was going on. At first I was pretty pissed off. Really, you didn't have any right to go digging like you did. But it all turned out good in the end."

"How long has this been going on, anyway?" he asked. "Is that why you were always crashing on our couch when we lived there?"

"Sort of," she admitted. "I didn't like being there, that's all."

"And it's only gotten worse since then, huh?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I just quit putting up with it, most of the time. You can lie down, you know."

"What?" He couldn't help it; his eyes looked her up and down once again. "You sure?"

"Yeah, it's no big deal." She scooted over a little bit. "As long as you're not mad at me anymore."

"Huh, okay." He turned around and stretched out next to her, hands behind his head. He hadn't forgotten about earlier, not by a long shot, but that didn't lessen his desire to flirt with her. Especially not considering their current position. "That irresistible, huh?"

She scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Actions speak louder than words."

She yawned. "Just as long as you're speaking the right language," she said.

"Maybe I ought to hire a translator, then," he said. "I'd have to pay a premium but maybe it'd be worth it."

"Maybe?" She prodded him in the side, then rolled slightly on her side to rest her head on his shoulder. She sighed and settled in, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, maybe." He watched her, somewhat in wonder, unsure what was really going on. But she was puzzling most of the time. He considered this in the light of their conversation. He shouldn't read too much into this, he decided. But it was nice being affectionate with someone. Especially considering it was her. He watched her face. This was the same peacefulness she displayed when she'd slept on his couch at the old house. So maybe he should take her lead. If she had a problem with it, she'd say so. He lowered his arms, curling one around her shoulders. Apparently he'd forgiven her by now, despite himself.

"We never did this when we were younger," she muttered. "It's nice."

Leonard grunted. "Nice. Yeah."

Her eyes opened. "What?"

He smiled wryly. "Oh, I don't know, you just seem awfully eager to get into bed with me all of a sudden."

She scoffed and thumped her hand against his chest, closing her eyes again. "Don't get your hopes up."


	7. Chapter 7

Leonard lay awake and listened to Allison's breathing. He had fallen asleep and dozed for a while but then had awoken sometime after dusk and been unable to return to sleep. He was trying to think of anything but the press of her body up against him. The urge to touch her was becoming harder and harder to resist. He reached with his free hand to rub his forehead. Would he be pressuring her if he made a move right now? After all, she was the one who had come to him. Was he speaking her language, like she'd said earlier?

He strove within himself. He ought to be disgusted by his feelings for her right now. He didn't want Randy's sloppy seconds. This was Allison though. It was Allison, who he'd been infatuated with ever since he could remember. It was Allison, who had just gone out of her way to betray him. It was Allison, who he couldn't help but forgive.

Why was he even in this situation?

He shouldn't take it for granted that he knew what she was thinking. He needed to find something, anything else to keep his mind on. When she woke up, he'd ask her point-blank. No…that wasn't a good idea either. If she intended it to be the start of something, she'd let him know. Through her actions. As long as he interpreted her actions correctly.

He led out a long, deep sigh. He settled his head back again against the pillow and tried to think about something, anything, that would keep his mind off of the anticipation that was coursing through his system. The more he tried not to think about it, the worse it got. Every time he thought of an unsexy thing to think about—his indisputably unattractive English teacher, for example—his mind followed it up with a memory that led back to her. It was all little things of course, nothing overt, but he'd always enjoyed it when she would tease him.

His hand trailed on her waist. He was getting into dangerous territory now. He could feel the hem of her pajama top. The temptation was too much now. He held his breath, swallowing. His fingertips brushed under the hem and felt her skin. Now all thoughts of resistance were gone. He had been aching to touch her like this. Had she really meant for nothing to happen when she'd come here? He slowly snaked his hand in under the hem and glided it up her belly, feeling the soft, taut skin with his palm.

In a flash she was awake, her hand darting to grip his wrist painfully, and she torqued it as she swung her legs around, pinning him with one knee on his chest, dipping her head when it bumped the bunk above. In the gloom he could see that she was holding the point of a pocketknife in his face. "Haven't I told you to keep your fucking hands off me?" she growled, jabbing her bodyweight down onto his chest.

He put his free hand out in surrender, shocked into silence, eyes wide.

When she saw his face, her expression gave way to something apologetic. She released his arm and rubbed her head. "Leonard. I forgot where I was." She plunked down onto the bed and folded the knife up. "Sorry."

It took a moment for Leonard's tongue to loosen. "_Sorry_?"

She shook her head, turning to sit on the edge of the bed with her back to him, and stuffed the knife back in the pocket of the pajama pants.

He sat up next to her, swinging his legs around her before settling on the edge of the bed. "Hey, Allison, what was that? Why do you have a knife?"

She didn't spare him a glance. "In case you haven't _noticed_, I don't come from the nicest area of town."

"I know _that_." He shook his head as if that would clear it somehow and make this make sense. Her words now didn't add up with her actions and he was genuinely confused. "You've never told me to keep my hands off of you before."

"I wasn't talking about you. I thought…" She turned her head, looking away from him. "Forget it."

"Did you think I was someone else?" He took her silence as an affirmative. "Who?"

She paused before answering. "Some guy. One of mom's boyfriends. I don't know who he was."

"Some guy?" Leonard's mind was churning. It was still sluggish from sleep, but some of the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. "Did someone hurt you?"

Her tone grew darker. "It doesn't matter."

Neither of them moved, though he felt like shifting closer. "It matters to me."

"He should have kept his hands to himself." She made a small sound, something like the sound one makes when stifling back tears, but Leonard knew she wasn't crying. Wouldn't cry, not even over something like this. "That's when I started finding other places to stay. I couldn't stand the idea of that happening again."

Leonard couldn't think of anything to say. It didn't matter, though, because she kept talking.

"It was the worst day of my life. That fucking creep…" She slouched back, lip curling in disgust. "I didn't think I could trust anyone. I…I felt like everyone knew. It was stupid, but that's what I thought."

Leonard felt as though his body had gone heavy, like a dead weight. He didn't know how to respond to something like that. He wanted to hunt down that person and hurt him, but what could he do about it? Nothing, that was what.

Allison was watching him. She shook her head when she saw his expression, and rubbed his shoulder as though to assure him. "It's all right, Leonard. It was a long time ago."

"You don't act like it's all right." Why else would she have the knife? Why would she still be carrying it in her pajamas, even—even here?

"It is." She trailed her hand down from his shoulder to his waist. She gripped it, briefly, then climbed onto his lap, sitting sideways, and kissed him.

Leonard's heart beat in his ears. He resisted for a bit, filled with doubts. After what she'd just shared, was this the right thing to do? He didn't want to take advantage of her at a vulnerable moment. But then he realized she was coming to him for comfort. Surely he couldn't deny her that.

As she kissed him she turned to straddle him, gripping his shoulders with her hands as she shifted positions. He helped her settle back into his lap, avoiding bumping her head on the bunk above, and put one of his hands in her hair. It was silky soft. His thoughts thudded in his mind, almost as if he was trying to transmit them to her, making a promise through the touch of his hands and the way he caressed her. He closed his eyes. _You'll never hurt like that again._

He touched the back of her neck lightly, sliding his fingers through her tresses. Allison keened and kissed him more deeply. _Fuck._ She was getting him so excited. He put a little bit of traction on her hair and she gasped against his lips, moving her hands to his arms and kneading her fingers into the muscle. It was his turn to grunt and he placed his other hand on her ass to snug her hips up against his. She writhed against him but now, of all times, he felt a pang of apprehension. He couldn't come on too aggressive. Sure, she was giving as well as she was getting but he didn't want her to think he was pressuring her. "Allison," he mumbled through their kiss. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"Shut up." She reached up and unbuttoned the pajama top, taking them one at a time. That was close enough to permission for him. He shoved the top off of her shoulder, raking her with his eyes before pressing his lips to hers again, harder than before. Their motions became frenetic as they fumbled to undress, and they stretched out on the bed together, their lips scarcely parting, breath coming in pants and gasps.

"You gotta condom?" she said against his lips.

"Here," he muttered, rolling back to snake his hand into his bedside table drawer. He caught his hand inside the drawer and had to wrench it back out, emerging triumphantly with the little foil packet, and he twisted back to face her.

It was strange; doing this, he felt much less awkward than he had when they'd kissed in that classroom. After all, he was in his own bed—the bottom bunk of a childish bunk bed, sure, but it was his own territory. He was about to guide her onto her back when she took the initiative first, grabbing him about the shoulders, climbing to straddle him as he rolled. He looked up at her, even more excited than before, caressing her sides. She shoved him back into the pillow. "Give me that," she growled, taking the condom out of his hand. She ripped it open and applied it with a practiced hand while he luxuriated in touching her skin, smoothing his hands over her breasts and her thighs.

She rocked down onto him. "Stop doing that and fuck me."

She started moving, and he looked up at her, watching her face as he struggled to find her rhythm. She was wrapped up in herself and her own enjoyment, it seemed; she had brought her hand between them to play with herself, and he let out a little groan, thrusting into her with a more steady beat. She opened her eyes and looked down at him with a knowing smirk. "That's right," she murmured, meeting his movements with a flexing of her hips, pressing down onto him. He gripped her thighs and did his best to continue in the same cadence.

Before long he was rocking beneath her as he finished. He collapsed against the pillow, breathing heavily. That had been better than he'd ever dared to dream. Allison set her hand on his belly, pulled back, then settled along his side. "Look at you," she said. "That was nice."

He let her move, then let his head rest against her chest, kissing lightly here and there. "Mm."

She brushed a hand over his hair. "No, really. You acted like you cared that it was _me_ with you, you know? Not just some random fuckhole."

Leonard set his head back so he could look at her. He didn't really want to contemplate the experiences behind her statement, but he wasn't going to quash the sentiment. "Yeah, I did, Allison. I do."

They lapsed into silence, their breathing slowing into a contented rhythm. It wasn't long, though, before she sat up and pulled the pajama top around her shoulders. Then she stood up and shimmied into the pajama bottoms. He watched with regret as the waistband rose. His glimpses of her bare form had been too brief so far.

She stretched her arms out to show that she was now fully clothed. "Show's over, Church."

He rolled his eyes, sitting up to clean himself up. He only went by his last name at school, a legacy of his basketball days. He didn't know why she suddenly switched to that. "You didn't have to get dressed so soon."

"I'm hungry," she said with a shrug. "You going to fix something for your guest?"

"Maybe if you ask nicer than that." He pulled his clothes over to himself and started to get dressed. Despite his words, it was obvious he was already planning to accommodate her.

"Right," she said with a smirk. "I'll meet you down there."


	8. Chapter 8

It was late evening when they made their way down the stairs. Allison sat down at the table with a glass of water, giving Leonard the space he needed to do whatever he was going to do. This whole domestic thing he was doing was humorous to her. Especially considering what had just happened. She couldn't hold it in once he started the process of cooking the pancake batter he'd just mixed up. She didn't try to hide at all the fact that she was smirking.

"What the hell are you smiling at?" he said when he noticed.

She shrugged, standing to join him, leaning against the counter. "Just something about you cooking for me. It's funny."

He tried to hand her the spatula. "You can do the cooking if you prefer."

"I've never cooked a thing in my life," she laughed, pushing his hand away. "Where did you learn to cook, anyway?"

Leonard turned the box of pancake mix and pointed at the directions on the back. "It's not rocket surgery."

"Rocket surgery?" Allison's laughter deepened. "Where did you get that?"

He shrugged. "It's just a silly expression my dad uses."

As if on cue, the front door lock turned and Leonard's father walked in the door. He opened the front closet and set his things inside. "Late dinner, huh?"

"Yeah," Allison replied. "We were busy talking before. Still working out the arrangements."

"Looks like they're working out in your favor." Lawrence nodded in Leonard's direction. "How is your landlord treating you?"

"Dad," Leonard protested, shaking his head slightly. Allison shot another smirk in his direction. Leonard was always embarrassed by Lawrence's jokes and it figured he'd overreact to an innocuous little remark like that one.

"All right, Leonard, I've said my piece on the matter." Lawrence chuckled and sat at the table. "I trust you've had a pleasant stay so far."

Allison walked around the counter. "Very," she assured him, taking a seat across from him. "Leonard's been giving me _everything_ I wanted." She glanced over at Leonard. From his posture she could tell he knew exactly what she was referring to. He had a terrible poker face. She grinned. "I could really get used to it, you know?"

Lawrence settled his hands in front of him on the table. "That's good. Leonard had his concerns, I think, that you wouldn't like the arrangements."

"No, they're great." She kept her gaze on Leonard as he turned to bring over the platter, piled high with pancakes. She knew what Leonard thought about this whole arrangement. He might have tried to deny it at first, but the tryst they'd just had upstairs proved that.

After the meal and some small talk Leonard got up. "I'll be right back." He headed upstairs and they heard the sound of the bathroom door clicking closed.

"So, Allison." Lawrence got up and cleared their plates and sat back down as he spoke. "I wonder if we can talk for a few moments while Leonard is otherwise occupied."

"Sure." She was vaguely uncomfortable, but kept her strong façade up. She wasn't used to taking instruction from men. In fact, in the last few years she had taken care of every one of her own needs by herself. Sure it had meant sneaking into her mother's house and it meant stealing sometimes, but she got to take care of herself. It was strange to be beholden to other people now.

"I just want to ask you to avoid hurting Leonard, if at all possible."

Allison didn't respond to this at all. She only stared at him, one of her eyebrows arched slightly.

Lawrence met her implacable gaze. "Leonard seems to think he can save you from yourself. But I've been around the block enough times to know people don't change so easily. I'll understand if you feel that this isn't going to work for you, Allison. I'm just asking you that if you don't, you try to let him down gently, all right?"

Allison didn't know what to say. She had a sense she should feel insulted, but his tone had been so matter-of-fact that she didn't feel any offense. "I think that sounds…reasonable."

"Good. Thank you, Allison." Lawrence got up and rapped the table. "I'm going to get to bed now. I'm planning to spend some time at the office in the morning. Could you let Leonard know I said good night and not to be late to work tomorrow?"

"Work? I didn't know he had a job."

"It's part of the agreement to let you stay here. My friend offered him a job at the ice cream shop downtown. It should be a very good experience for him." Lawrence paused and she nodded numbly. "It's good to see you again, Allison. You have a good night." Lawrence walked to the door of the master suite and slipped inside.

Allison had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't known Leonard worked there when he took her to get that ice cream. He had seemed awfully chummy with the guy behind the counter, but she hadn't thought much of it at the time. Now she had to wonder what he'd really been up to. Would Leonard actually take her to his place of employment to show her off? And what was this business about her letting Leonard down gently? Didn't they know she was capable of making her own decisions? She always made her own decisions. She wasn't going to change for him. She'd leave without notice, if she really felt like it. It wasn't like he deserved anything more than that.

She was still sitting in the same spot when Leonard came down the stairs. "Oh, did Dad go to bed?"

She didn't turn to look at him. "Yeah. He said you shouldn't be late to work tomorrow."

"Oh, shit, I forgot about that." There was an uncomfortable pause as he approached the table. She still wasn't looking up at him. "What's going on?"

"Oh, I'm just sitting here wondering why you would take me to the ice cream shop where you work to have a private conversation." She arose to look him in the face and addressed him vindictively. "I'm sure that guy behind the counter who served me my sundae loved the thrill of meeting your little whore."

Leonard was momentarily speechless. Did she really think it was like that for him? "You know we weren't even inside when we had that talk. Besides, we weren't together back then, so—"

Allison let out a snort. "_Together_? What the hell are you talking about?"

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "I mean tonight, when... I mean, I thought…"

Her biting laughter pierced his brain. "You are such a girl, Church! Let me inform you of something." She leaned closer to graze his ear with her lips as she spoke. "Sometimes sex is just sex." She backed up to regard the hurt on his face, smirking. "You ought to know that."

Leonard felt like throwing up. "I can't believe…"

"Hey, I have to repay you for the room somehow. Don't have any money, so…" She laughed sardonically.

He wanted to grab her by the arm, shake her, make her understand. "Allison, I'm not interested in using you. I'm interested in _you._ I…I thought you understood that."

She looked at him contemptuously. "I guess I've never known the difference."

Leonard's eyes clouded. "Look, if you can't accept the way I feel about you, then…fine." The words were like acid in his throat. Sure there was a part of him willing to accept meaningless sex from her, what guy wouldn't? "But…don't come knocking again until you can."

With a derisive scoff, Allison turned and hiked up the stairs, her footsteps sure and steady. He heard her bedroom door click closed.

Leonard lurched over to the couch and melted onto the seat. That was the hardest thing he had ever done. It had taken everything in him not to beg her to love him, not to grovel at her feet for her acceptance. He told himself things would be all right even if he only received her scorn. At least she had a warm place to sleep at night, right?

He squeezed his eyes shut. It was going to be worth it. _It has to be._


	9. Chapter 9

Leonard finally drifted off to sleep in his bed sometime early in the morning. His alarm went off at eight. As it blared his mind flooded with the events of the previous night. _Ugh._ It was like all his plans kept crumbling to dust in his hands. With a groan he rolled out of bed and switched off the alarm at the computer terminal in his bedroom wall. He stepped into the bathroom and turned on the light. His hands shook as he glared at his reflection in the mirror. He could remember the look on her face, her contemptuous laughter. "_Sometimes sex is just sex_," she'd said, throwing his actions in his face. Maybe it was his own fault for wearing his heart on his sleeve the way he had. She'd simply taken advantage of him for that. Though why she'd done that right after sharing something so personal, he didn't understand at all.

He shook his head, still staring in the mirror, but now his thoughts were on the night before, the way she played the aggressor, grinding down against him, her fingertips indenting into his skin as she kissed him; what he took at the time for passion, but as he considered the way she had been, how she had acted, it seemed almost like she had been driven by anger.

His eyes focused back on to his reflection. It had been just as it had been in that physics classroom. Whatever issue she was dealing with, she was using him as a proxy to work through it, and his feelings for her were the victim. After a pause he made a sound of exasperation and let go of the counter. He started back down the hall toward his bedroom, abandoning the idea of taking a shower before work today. He just wanted to get out of here.

As he stepped out of the bathroom he could see that Allison's door was hanging open, just wide enough for him to see the end of the bed, and he unconsciously held his breath as he walked up to it. Allison was lying on top of the blankets, though she had an armful of the comforter crumpled up with her face partially buried in the folds. It was subtle, but he could see that her closed eyes were underlined with red blotches. Had she…actually been crying?

Maybe all her bravado the previous night had been an act. He kept telling himself to get going but he lingered for a few moments. "You think I'm trying to use you," he muttered. Because that's what it was, he realized. She seemed to be trying to prove it with everything she did. He rubbed his hand across his forehead, frustrated. The more he tried to drive away the memory of last night, the more it dominated his thoughts.

So he dressed for work, and left in a daze, only able to think of her. It was too early to go to the ice cream shop yet, so he drove to a nearby park, getting out to throw stones into the pond. It wasn't a good distraction. It just left him alone with his thoughts. Was this all really going to be worth it? The more he considered what she had done the more aggressively he threw those stones. She didn't trust him. And he'd given her all kinds of reasons to think she was right in that.

After a bit he decided to get his COM pad out. He needed to talk this out and the obvious choice was to call Jimmy. He sat on a park bench, leaning back into it, and once the call was established he explained what was going on—not in full detail, but he did describe how Allison had chosen to sleep with him before revealing she didn't intend to start a relationship with him.

"Dude, from what I know, she's not a relationship person," Jimmy said. "Maybe you should be glad it worked out like that. At least she's not stringing you along."

"I'm not glad," Leonard said. "I was just being naïve, I guess."

"Definitely," Jimmy said. "I think you should just forget about anything panning out with her."

"Yeah," Leonard muttered. "I guess I should."

He finally left the park in time for work. Will stood behind the counter. "Hey there. Employee entrance is through there," he said, nodding toward the door beyond the counter.

Leonard went to the back, tied on an apron as he was instructed, and began the business of training. At first it was difficult to keep his mind on what he was learning. Most of it was simple enough—scoop up ice cream in measured amounts, use this mixer for the milkshakes, and of course he was given the duty of taking out the trash. Before long, though, it got busy and his mind was able to preoccupy itself with the work. It was the first Saturday in April, which meant the beginning of baseball. It was also unusually hot. There were droves of people coming in for a treat. He ended up staying for seven hours instead of the scheduled five. The shop was inundated with customers the whole day through.

"Sorry about holding you over," Will said. "John was in late."

He'd been hoping he'd be able to leave when he'd seen the other employee arrive. "Is it always like this?" Leonard asked, stripping off his apron.

"No. I guess word got out there was a rookie training today, and everyone in town wanted to make life hard for you." Will smiled. "You're a good worker. Though I wouldn't expect anything less from Larry's son."

Leonard shrugged. "I've never worked like that in my life. Never had a job before."

Will wasn't dissuaded. "Well, I look forward to seeing you on Monday."

"Sure. Thanks." He headed back out to his car. He'd proved himself that day, which was all according to plan. He'd be building on this budding reputation in the future. Since word would be getting back to his dad on that, he would make sure of it.

It wasn't until he got home that his mind returned to his other problems. He had to unlock the door when he arrived. He could hear music blaring in the front room. _Not this again. _If she had brought another man here that would be the end of this arrangement.

He touched the screen of the computer terminal in the wall to silence it. He could see from here, over the counter that separated the living area from the kitchen, clear evidence that she had fixed herself something to eat. He wandered over there, shaking his head with a roll of his eyes. She'd left a mess on the counter, and her plate with abandoned sandwich crust sat alongside. "Allison?" He moved to the stairs and called again. He received no answer.

By now he was nearly certain she'd done this just to aggravate him. He felt a bit resentful; he'd just spent all that time at work, keeping up his end of a deal that was only meant for her benefit, and here she'd left him more work to do. He turned his back on the mess, determining that he would just tell her to clean it up later. Instead of trying to find her again, he took a fast shower, grabbing one of his marijuana cigarettes from his room as he headed back down the stairs. The drug had become legal some years back and along with the freedom he had from having a workaholic for a father came the ability to indulge in a few vices. After a long day of work at a new job, relaxing by smoking some pot sounded very attractive right now.

He was nearly finished when the patio door rumbled open. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

He didn't move from his reclined position in the patio chair, not thinking much of her tone. "Relaxing."

She stepped into his line of sight. "I hate that shit. Put it out."

He raised an eyebrow. "Come _on_, Allison." He brought his hand to his mouth again.

She snatched the end of the slim paper tube and tossed it out into the lawn.

"Hey!" Leonard hopped up, making a motion to jog out into the lawn and find it.

She grabbed onto his shirt, twisting the collar. "Next time you touch any of that shit I am gone, Leonard!"

"What? What the fuck do you care? We're not even together, remember?" Throwing her words back into her face felt good. He was tired of being the saint. He stared into her eyes, glowering.

"Are you trying to make sure it never happens?" she replied, eyes narrowed, hand jerking reflexively at his collar.

Leonard stepped back slightly. Leave it to her to use something like that to hang over his head. He scowled and swatted at her hand. "Keep your fucking hands off me."

From her expression it was obvious she had not expected his reaction to that. "What?"

"If we're not together you have no reason to touch me," he said. "So don't."

She jerked her hands down to her sides. They both stood silent, at a stand-off, staring each other down. Neither seemed willing to be the one who would back off.

Leonard was the first to make a move. He simply turned around and walked around to the front of the house. He picked up his basketball and dribbled it absentmindedly to the end of the driveway. The sun was just beginning to lower in the sky, casting long shadows from the nearby trees. He turned around to take a jump shot but was surprised to see her walking toward him. She was halfway between him and the basket and approaching quickly.

"Leonard, don't turn your back on me."

He set up his shot again and took it. It bounced off the backboard and into the grass. "Are you being literal, or metaphorical?"

"What? You just turned your fucking back on me and walked away."

"So, literal then."

She scoffed. "You are such a _nerd_."

"Listen, Allison. I am simply trying to unwind after a long week. You might not realize it, but living with you is a lot of work. So I am trying to relax and not deal with any drama. Can you handle that?"

She scowled, insulted. "What do you mean, 'drama'?"

"The usual definition of the word drama?" Leonard shook his head and headed over to his basketball. He put it in its place on the front porch and opened the door. She was following him.

"You did it again, Leonard!"

"Okay, no." Leonard wheeled around to gesture in her face. "This is not happening right now. See, I am going upstairs, and I am going to get myself another joint, and I am going to enjoy it. In peace. Alone. All right?"

"No." Allison's anger shone in her eyes.

"What in the _hell_, Allison. If I'm not with you, and you're not with me, then there is no damn reason for you to object."

Another stand-off. But the anger in Allison's eyes dimmed. Her next words were uncharacteristically pleading and sincere. "Leonard, come on. Do it for me, huh?"

Leonard just stared at her. He started up the stairs.

She pounded up the stairs after him. "Leonard! I meant what I said! You pick up another joint and I'm going to hitchhike to Nebraska!"

In the time it took him to walk into his room and grab the pack of joints, she had climbed the stairs to her room and slammed the door. He walked across the hall and opened it. She was angrily stuffing her clothes into her school bag. He tossed the pack onto her bed. She froze, staring at it.

He couldn't help but look at it wistfully for a second before turning and trudging away. He had bought a pack of twelve and he still had six of them left. _Stupid fucking waste of money_. Half of him—okay, more than half—wanted to turn around and snatch them back up. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he entered his bedroom.

Just for the change of pace, he clambered over the railing of the top bunk and stretched out with his head at the foot end of the bed. That's how he felt, out of kilter and upside down. He was starting to wonder if this whole thing was worth it. Maybe he should let her take care of her own problems. She had obviously been fine finding her own sleeping arrangements in the past.

He heard her footsteps go down the hall, followed by the flushing of the toilet. The footsteps padded up the hall. She was standing in his doorway now. She didn't say anything, just stood there.

"Go away." He rolled onto his side to face the wall.

Her footsteps faded away and silence reigned. Leonard shut his eyes, wallowing in self-pity. Sleep soon overtook him, and he didn't notice when she came in and turned out the light.


	10. Chapter 10

Allison was walking toward him, finally—it was half an hour after school had been dismissed. It wasn't every day she expressed intentions to go back to his house after school, but on those occasions she did, she ought to have enough common courtesy to be punctual. He quit leaning on the car and called out to her. "You know, one of these days I'm just going to leave without you and you're going to have to walk home."

She looked him right in the eye and flipped him off before opening the passenger door and slinging her bag in before her.

"Classy." He climbed in the driver's seat and looked over at her. "You don't think I'd do it, do you?"

"I'm not obligated to do whatever it is you think I should do," she said.

He snorted. "What the fuck does that mean?"

She inclined her head with a defiant scowl. "It _means_ don't hold things over my head, Leonard. If you need to go home without me, then go. I know you're always looking forward to having a hot date with that physics book of yours."

His hands clenched the steering wheel. It was annoying how she got on his case for being so diligent. He was only doing it because of her. "Fine, then. Don't come back to me later annoyed about how much walking you have to do." He'd nearly been late to work more than once because of waiting on her—well, that wasn't going to happen anymore.

"Whatever," she said.

"I'm serious, I don't want to hear a word about it."

Her mouth twisted into a slight sneer. "Just shut up about it, why don't you?"

"Just making sure you got the picture." He glanced over at her a moment later to see her gazing out the window. Yup, they were back to normal, all right. Whatever she'd been trying to prove, as far as he was concerned, she'd made her point. Unless something drastic happened he didn't see a relationship between them even being put on the table.

When they arrived at the house she disappeared into her room to do her homework, or whatever it was she got up to. He didn't care. For his part, since it was his day off, he settled at the dinette table to spread his homework out on its surface. He had more room here than at the small desk in his room. He looked at everything after it was laid out and sighed. He'd be glad when the school year was over and he got something of a break from all of this. After graduation would come more work, and eventually, college, but he'd take that as it came.

When Lawrence arrived from work, earlier than usual, Leonard was still sitting there.

"Hey," Lawrence greeted him.

Leonard kept his attention on his homework. "Hey."

His father headed to the kitchen, keeping up his usual routine. "Hard at work, I see. You've been doing really well. Will talked to me the other day and he said so too."

"Yeah," Leonard said. "But it's not like working there is hard."

"Even so." Lawrence moved to the stove with a pan and put it on the heat. "Rent's due next week. I suppose you have that in hand?"

"I will." Leonard had been carefully keeping track of the numbers so he'd have exactly what he needed at the time that he needed it. As far as he was concerned the rest of what he earned was his to do with as he wished.

"Good," Lawrence replied. "I'd hate to have to follow through on the consequences if you were to slack off."

Leonard scoffed lightly. "You mean you don't want to see her homeless any more than I do."

"No, I don't." Lawrence dug through the cabinet. "This has been a good experience for _her_ as well, I think. Even if you two don't get along, things are stable for her. I think it'd be unfortunate—" He paused for a long moment. "Leonard, have you been drinking my liquor?"

"No," Leonard said, just a little too quickly, dropping his eyes to his book.

Lawrence brought the bottle over to the table and sat down across from his son. "Leonard, you've been granted a lot of freedom in the way I've raised you. Don't take advantage of that. You know it's one thing to have a shot with permission and under supervision. Stealing a drink from the bottle isn't what I expect of you, especially with the lessons you've been learning lately about responsibility."

"Sorry," he mumbled. "There's just a lot of pressure on me right now."

"There's always going to be pressure on you. That's part of life." Lawrence sighed. "I don't want to see you make the mistakes your mother made, Leonard. She used alcohol as an escape and eventually it got to be out of her control. You know how she hurt me, how she hurt us both, when she decided to leave."

"I know." Leonard had heard plenty of stories about his mother's mistakes, enough to last him a lifetime. He rubbed his forehead. "But I don't think this is fair. Allison could have gotten into it too." Because he was sure he hadn't drunk enough for his father to notice.

"Fair enough," his father said. He picked up the bottle and looked over the label. "I'll find some other place to keep it."

"Good 'cause I don't want to get blamed for something I didn't do."

Lawrence gave his son a stern look.

Leonard sat back in his chair, gesturing with a half-shrug. "Just saying, that's all."

"Watch how you 'just say' things." Lawrence went to his room to tuck the bottle away somewhere, and Leonard started packing up his things. After that conversation he didn't want to sit here to finish his work.

Leonard had a lot on his mind when he went to bed that night. Now he had neither of his preferred vices to indulge in—no alcohol, no pot—and no time to just veg out if he felt like it. It made him feel like life was closing in on him. He turned over, rolling onto his side. He considered getting up and utilizing his weight bench to try to work some of this nervous energy out. Instead he turned back onto his back and curled his arm under his head, shutting his eyes. Skipping school, just one day, for a break, sounded like an appealing option, but he just had this feeling his father would see through it if he tried to claim he was sick.

Leonard fell asleep eventually, but as he slept he found himself in a state of twilight, partly asleep and partly worrying about all of his responsibilities. His consciousness was easily aroused when the foot of the bed dipped, the mattress shifting as another person weighted down the bed. She seemed to be crawling across the length of the bed gingerly, trying to keep from jostling him. But there was no mistaking the bulk of another person settling in next to him. "Allison?" he muttered.

She turned on her side with her back to him, wriggling as she shifted against the covers. "Yeah?"

"What are you doing here?"

There was a pause before she answered. "I had a nightmare, okay?" she said defensively. "Just let me stay here."

It didn't seem like her to have nightmares that bad. He frowned. "Stay on that side of the bed," he said, scooting away slightly.

"Yeah, whatever," she muttered. They both went quiet then, but he was wide awake. He didn't feel any temptation like he had the last time she'd been in his bed. She seemed to fall asleep almost immediately and he listened to her breathing. This was why he was doing this, all of it. So that Allison could have some peace. _I'm such a sap_, he thought to himself.

Before he knew it he was awakening before the alarm. He slipped out of bed and left the alarm set so that she would wake up after he was gone. He had a feeling if he asked about her dream later on she'd become defensive and refuse to tell him any details, so he decided not to address it.

Unfortunately, it seemed to set a precedent. He didn't even bother to question her about it when she joined him several more times over the next weeks. It seemed better just to ignore it and let her do what she needed to do. He always handled it the same way, getting up and leaving her behind. It became like a carefully executed dance, one he soon learned all the steps to.

At school these days she behaved towards him as she always had, antagonizing him before English class (not his strong suit, and she knew it), snatching up bits of food from his lunch as she passed in the lunch room, and just being a pain towards him in general. As far as anyone around them would know, nothing had changed between them. She kept up the appearance that there was no recent history that might make things awkward between them, and he had no choice but to follow suit. As far as he knew none of her friends had been told anything. And in reality it was best that way. They could do without the rumors.

It was now near the end of the school year, and graduation was fast approaching. It had that unreal quality, knowing that a long-desired goal was within grasp. There were events meant only for the graduating seniors, culminating with a special breakfast the week before graduation was meant to take place.

He drove her there, as usual, and picked a seat near the back. The round decorated tables were set for eight, and he knew between his friends and friends-of-friends the table would be filled shortly. The sentiments his friends had expressed to him were similar to his own—he was ready for high school to be over so he could move on, start college, get a degree and make a career for himself. He had pulled up his physics grade, thankfully making it so he had a lot of possibilities in choosing a major and a university to attend. He should be successful at anything he put his mind to doing. It was just a matter of staying on top of things.

Leonard looked over when someone settled into the chair beside him. It was Allison. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What are you doing?"

She spread her hands to indicate the table and the chair. "Sitting down? What's it look like?"

"Uh, okay." He'd expected her to want to sit with her friends, but she obviously was going to do whatever she wanted to.

Jimmy settled in at his other side and Leonard glanced at him. "Hey Church, hey Allison."

"Hi," Allison said, sitting back and crossing her legs. She was wearing an outfit she had convinced Leonard to buy for her—otherwise she wouldn't have had something suitably dressy, she had claimed. He wasn't sure why he'd let her talk him into that. He'd actually had a few dollars to himself after a couple of months of paying rent for her and there he went and blew it on what he had to admit was a stunning outfit on her. He'd never seen her dressed up, to tell the truth, so he'd never seen her in a tailored blouse like this one, which she'd paired with a pair of pinstriped slacks and heels.

"You look nice," Jimmy said.

"Thanks," Allison said, smiling demurely. "Nothing like a new outfit to make you feel good."

"You don't need new clothes to look good," Jimmy replied.

Allison raised her eyebrows, smirking, apparently flattered. "Trying to get on my good side, Jimmy?"

"It'd be a good place to be," Jimmy said, and Allison laughed.

"I like you," she said.

Leonard looked around a bit, then settled back into his seat. He didn't have any right to feel jealous of that exchange. Jimmy was a friend, but Allison was her own person, and there was nothing to prevent the two of them from flirting, even if Leonard wished they wouldn't.

Slowly, people filtered into the room and friends of each of them settled into the other seats at the table. Conversation died off when the principal made her way to the front and started things off with a small prepared speech.

The speeches given by members of their class were at some points touching, but Leonard hadn't been as involved as some of the speakers had been. He had never worked on the school newspaper or participated in the marching band. He hadn't participated in the school trip to Washington. These recollections simply didn't resonate with him. He looked down to fidget with his napkin and realized Allison was looking at him. His attention was drawn toward her and she grinned, looking down to hide the smile behind her hair.

His eyebrows narrowed slightly in confusion but he put his attention back on the speaker. This really was boring. And Allison was looking at him again. "What?" he whispered and she shook her head, still smiling.

When the meal was served he turned toward her. "What was that?" he asked her. "Was he saying something funny? I didn't get it."

She shrugged. "Nah, I was just bored."

"You're weird." Still, it was nice to be able to be this relaxed around her for once. He turned ever so slightly in her direction.

"You're the one who wants to be a scientist," she said with a laugh.

"Hey, I have ambition. That's a good thing."

"I think you always have," Allison said.

"What makes you say that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Just something about the way you and your dad talk," she said.

"Well, he helps me a lot. He didn't get a lot of support growing up so he makes a point of it."

"He should be glad you turned out so well." She pointed at him with her fork. "But don't let that go to your head."

"It's already there," he said, laughing. "I didn't know you felt that way, Allison."

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Hey, you may be an asshole, but that doesn't mean you're not going to be successful."

He couldn't believe it when he found that they were both done eating and realized they had continued to pleasantly converse the entire time. The seniors were free to leave the school once the breakfast was over. Allison walked out of the room ahead of Leonard. By the time he got to his car she was lounging in the passenger seat, one foot propped up against the dash. She watched him as he lowered himself into the driver's seat. Leonard glanced at her as he started the ignition and then pulled the car forward out of the parking lot.

Allison ruffled her hair with outspread fingers. "It was _so_ _hot_ in there. There were just too many people for that room to handle." She paused, her hands still on her head, and gave him a sly smile. "Don't you think so, Church?"

_Really subtle on the double entendre there._ She had to know how that position stretched her shirt over her breasts. His body was definitely responding to her flirting. It hadn't taken much, he thought to himself with some irritation. She just had to offer up a little friendly conversation and shoot some smiles in his direction and she had him in the palm of her hand. He gripped the steering wheel, willing his eyes to stay on the road. "Yeah, it was, uh…it was pretty thick in there."

"It's been a while since I've felt heat like that. I can't wait until we get home and we can, you know. Cool down." Allison angled her hips toward him in the seat. He involuntarily glanced at her and saw the suggestive smirk on her face. Leonard felt his Adam's apple bob up and down.

"I was thinking, maybe you could sleep in my room tonight. It would save me having to come down to your room. Since I have the bigger bed, and all. Hey, what's wrong, Church? You feel okay?"

_As if you don't know._ He clenched his jaw. The temptation to give in and flirt back was strong. In his mind he was already touching her skin and smelling her hair.

She reached over and nudged his arm. "Earth to Church."

Leonard made an abrupt right turn onto a residential street. He parked in front of the first house and turned to look at her. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What? I'm just trying to talk to you."

"Don't fuck with me, Allison. Why are you flirting with me?"

She tilted her head with a sly smirk. "What's wrong, Leonard? You can't handle it?"

Leonard narrowed his eyes, looking at her with suspicion. "I'm just wondering _why_."

Allison scoffed. "Hey, maybe I just really want to fuck you tonight. How's that?" She nearly laughed when Leonard let the silence hang, not taking his eyes off of her. "What, Leonard? Is that so hard to believe?"

"No. I'm just thinking about how when I first brought you to live in my house. You seemed pretty sure I was bringing you there just to take advantage of you. I think you said I was trying to make you into my 'own little whore.'" Allison started to protest, but he continued speaking. "So, I'm just wondering how in your mind it would be wrong for me to use you, but there's no problem if you want to use me."

Allison's jaw dropped and she turned to look at him in shock. "Use you?" Her mouth fished for words for a moment before she snapped it closed, scowling.

"Yes, I said you use me. You come into my bed for your own comfort without even considering how I feel about it."

"I haven't heard you complain—"

"Well, you can hear it now," he said. "I think we agreed that if you are not going to be with me, you're not going to touch me. So unless this is your way of saying yes…"

Allison was utterly speechless. A red flush was creeping up her neck and cheeks. She whipped her head to look out the passenger-side window. "Just fucking drive home."

Leonard had to sneak a smile. He had won an argument. And was she pissed about that.

When he pulled up in front of the house she didn't even wait until he had shifted into park before she opened the door and leapt out, slamming the door behind her. It was too bad, they'd actually made plans to hang out, but sitting down and being civilized was not going to be on her agenda right now. Well, that was on her head, not his. Maybe he'd get dressed more casually and go out instead. That actually sounded pretty good. He had to work the next couple of days, so taking an afternoon to himself might be nice.

It wasn't until he came back down from changing that she confronted him. "You better not be trying to get away from me."

"What if I am?" It was none of her business, that was what.

She frowned. "I want to talk," she said, a small amount of reluctance showing by the way she hesitated.

"Oh yeah?" He crossed his arms. "So talk."

"Well, it's not going to happen if you act like that about it." She shot him a look and then shook her head. "Forget it."

"No, no, you started it." He uncrossed his arms, though, tilting his head to gesture for her to continue. "Talk."

She scowled at him. "It's not like this is easy." She rubbed her arm with the opposite hand and looked past him. "You're right."

"I…am?" Not that it wasn't nice to hear, but he couldn't think of what she was referring to. "About what?"

"About me being selfish," she said impatiently. "I didn't want to commit to anything, so I just decided to be a bitch about it and play both sides."

"Uh-huh." For just a second he took that at face value, ready to dismiss it and tell her to forget it, when her wording struck him. "Wait, what do you mean 'commit'?"

"Leonard…" She still seemed to be struggling with what she meant to say, and she paused before pressing on. "I'm trying to tell you…" Her eyes met his; they were soft, an expression he'd never seen on her face. She was speaking nakedly, sincere. "I'm trying to say, that if you want a relationship with me, I don't even know what this means, but I'm saying yes."

He could have answered her, but instead he was holding on to her, kissing her impatiently, and she didn't hesitate to meet him. All this waiting and she gave in this easily, letting him guide her to the stairs, half lifting her up with him, tumbling up the stairs like gravity had reversed. He lifted her again, hands groping at her breasts eagerly, nearly shoving her forward as he headed into his room, but she laughed and shifted her hands between them to press him away slightly. "Pace yourself," she teased him, finding her feet. "You really want to go in there and use the bunk bed again?"

He scoffed, catching her arm before letting go. "I just have to grab a condom," he said, as though he'd been planning to head into her room all along.

"You'd better remember that, for as long as I made you wait," she teased, backing into the hallway.

"Well, it wasn't easy." He returned and pressed another kiss to her mouth, swallowing whatever reply she started to make, picking her up completely this time.

The difference this time was clear. He could tell it now, how she had kept herself separate from him the last time. He grabbed her about the waist, stroking his hands firmly along her sides as he guided her to back up against the bed. "Allison," he muttered, taking a moment to regard her. She pulled away slightly and took off her blouse, unbuttoning it as he watched. Her hands lingered as she finished the motion, and then she let it fall off her shoulders. There was a look of vulnerability in her eyes, something she'd never allowed him to see before. It was fascinating, watching the change in her as she opened herself up to his affections.

He helped her finish undressing as she did the same for him, and he lifted her once again to lay her back on the bed. Her touch was rough as her hands passed over his back, grazing his skin with her nails, squeezing at his arms, her gasps and sighs spurring him on as he pressed into her. She was submitting to him, to this, to being his, to letting him…was it love? It seemed like such a serious word to use for what they had but as he took in the sight of her as her head threw back against the pillow, an utterance of pleasure passing her lips, he knew. He was in love with her.

And when they were done, when he returned from cleaning up, he laid back down and rested his head on her chest. Her gaze was out into the room. He propped himself up to kiss her. "Hey," he muttered. "You okay?"

She nodded, smiling slightly, before glancing away again. "Yeah. Fine."

She was lying.

But how could she explain it to him, how vulnerable this made her feel? This wasn't just meaningless sex, something she was well familiar with. She knew how to handle that. It would last for a time, and then it would be over and she could drift to the next address. But this… This was a feeling of closeness, of truly being wanted, of having a home, of _belonging_ in a way she had never imagined.

And something about that terrified her.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's notes may be found on my tumblr at texelations dot tumblr dot com. Search for keystone and you will find the author's notes linked to the individual chapters.

* * *

Leonard's eyes opened. Momentarily disoriented, he remembered the events of the day before in a flash. Allison was his girlfriend now. He was lying in her bed on the other side of the house, so that was why the sunlight looked wrong. He scooted closer to her and she stirred.

"Mmm. Good morning," she said when she opened her eyes and saw him, stretching.

"Hi, baby." He kissed her. She let out a little scoffing sound at the moniker but didn't comment on it. It must not have bothered her too badly—she was smiling. "We slept in," he added. "I have to go to work soon."

She grabbed at his shoulder and tried to make him lie down again, a sly smile spreading on her face. "Call off. They won't miss you."

Leonard's reluctance made his voice falter. "I can't. You're only allowed to live here if I go to class and to work." Now that school was over, that part didn't matter, but he couldn't call off for something like this. "You can handle me being gone a few hours."

She pursed her lips in a pout. "I can, I just don't want to."

He was wavering. He ran his hand up and down her arm, sighing. He just couldn't let himself give in. "You can't always get what you want." He kissed her cheek. "Please don't tempt me anymore, Allison."

Her disappointment lasted only a moment longer. She smirked. "You want to take a shower then?"

Suddenly he felt like that awkward schoolboy again, shy and intimidated. "You mean…with you?"

She smiled. "What else?"

He pressed in to kiss her. "You're full of good ideas, you know that?"

"Don't forget it," she teased. The two of them rose then, and made their way to the bathroom. He couldn't take his eyes off her as she set the shower and slipped in ahead of him. "Come on," she encouraged with a laugh. "You act like you've never seen me naked before."

He climbed into the tub next to her, drawing the curtain. "Every time I see you it's like the first time."

"Aw, so sweet," she said, running a finger down the center of his chest. "Did you write that in your notebook?"

He rolled his eyes. Of course she'd remember about seeing her name in his notebook. "Hey, you should be flattered, with the way you've been treating me."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm going to let that one slide."

"That's 'cause you know I'm right."

"No, it's because I thought you'd like to avoid an argument." She gave him a look before she stepped back to get under the stream of water, raising her hands to smooth over her hair.

He rubbed his chin, running his nails through the scruff of beard, and watched her. "You're pretty good at being distracting," he finally said, deciding to listen to her and drop it.

"You noticed." She grinned and stepped closer. "Why don't you get wet, Leonard?"

It was hard not to linger in there for too long, but eventually the water started to cool and he reluctantly shut it off. "I've got to shave, and then I've got to leave."

"Want me to bring you your clothes?" she asked, wrapping herself in a towel.

"Yeah, that'd be great." He stepped to the mirror and started slathering his face with shaving cream. By the time he was done shaving she'd returned, dressed for the day. "You're going to be late," she said, almost triumphantly.

"Mhm." At this point he didn't care. The last twenty-four hours had been great and getting a strike for being late wasn't going to bother him after that.

Work was entirely different that day. Leonard found himself smiling in the middle of mopping or filling orders, thinking of Allison's milky white skin and her blond hair, of water cascading down her body and wet kisses, instead of whatever he was supposed to be thinking about. Normally if he needed to concentrate on something he was able to compartmentalize any distractions and banish them from his thinking, but thoughts of his now-requited love were all-consuming—for at least one day. He kept making mistakes—dropping someone's ice cream cone, scooping the wrong flavor up for someone else, stupid little things like that. It was kind of embarrassing, but it was also hard to care.

"I know that look," Will said, stopping in the break room where Leonard was eating a hot dog.

He glanced up at his boss. "What look?"

"That stupid grin on your face." Will stepped further into the room, taking up a mop to give it a quick pass it over the break room floor. "Who's the lucky one?"

"Oh," Leonard said. "You met her one time a while back. Allison."

Will grinned. "The blonde?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised you remember that."

"I remember everyone. And their orders." Will headed toward the door of the room again. "Make sure to treat her right."

"I don't intend to do anything else," Leonard said. Really, why wouldn't he? That's what love was about.

Word got around quickly among his few fellow employees about his newly minted relationship. Luckily the number of people who worked in the shop at any one time was fairly small, so he only had to put up with a little teasing. It still irritated him, though.

"Hey, Church," said John, a fellow-student from school. "I'm surprised, I always thought you'd hook up with something a little less dangerous, like a bear."

He tried to take the remark in good humor. "Yeah, well, you know, I'm a real risk-taker."

"You'd better be," John said with a laugh.

Leonard stifled the temptation to get defensive about John's remarks. He had a reputation around here as a good employee and as much as he wanted to snap at him about the teasing, he didn't want to ruin that image.

At the end of his shift he decided to get himself and Allison a couple of sundaes. He remembered her favorite combination—black cherry with fudge—and he went around the counter to pay after he put them together.

"For you and your girl, huh?" his coworker, Deshawn, teased him as he rang the order up.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, for me and my girl." He didn't like how it kept coming up. He pulled out his wallet and opened it.

He didn't believe what he was seeing. He stared. Most of his money was gone.

"Something wrong?" Deshawn asked.

"No, nothing's wrong." He was sick of interacting with his coworkers tonight and this situation certainly didn't make things any better. He gave Deshawn the payment and turned with the sundaes to leave. He was starting to feel his blood boil. It had only taken him a moment to realize what must have happened. Allison had had access to his wallet when she'd gone to get his clothes. But why would she have gotten into it? He set the sundaes on the front seat and buckled his seatbelt. He nearly wrenched the gearshift when he took off. She had been poor and homeless before he took her in. All she'd needed to do to get whatever she wanted from him was exactly what she had done—tell him she was ready for a relationship, bringing him under her spell. Had it really all been a ruse? A manipulation so she could take what she could with her and run?

The drive home seemed to take twice as long as usual. By the time he got back to the house he was ready for a confrontation, though he was more than half-suspecting she would be gone.

Lawrence's car was in the driveway, unusual for this early in the day. At least Leonard would have someone to rant to. He went ahead and grabbed the sundaes, prepared to throw hers in the garbage as soon as he got in the house. This whole thing was bullshit.

The sight that greeted him was the last thing he expected. The first thing he saw was Allison putting the finishing touches on the spread at the table. A messily decorated cake sat on the counter. "What's this?" he asked, confused.

"A graduation dinner!" Allison said. She was clearly pleased at his reaction, his apparent surprise.

Leonard raised his brows, trying to keep his recent anger from showing. He hoped the red had drained from his face. "Wow," he said lamely.

"She's been looking forward to this moment all day, I think," Lawrence chuckled from where he sat on the couch. His plate was mostly clear and he stood up with it. "I promised her she could have the evening alone with you, so I'm going to head out."

"Uh…okay." Leonard went over to the freezer to put the sundaes inside, then passed his hand over his hair as he turned around. He watched as his father placed his plate in the sink and then went through the front door. He waited until it closed to express his confusion. "What was he even doing here?"

"I called him." Allison gestured toward the table. "Come on, it's getting cold."

He went over to the table and pulled his chair out to sit down, looking the food over. For a moment it almost looked like the steak was made of rolled up dollar bills. How much of the money she had stolen would end up being swallowed tonight? He settled into his chair and looked at her. "You called him?" he asked, still confused.

"Yeah. I got the idea to do this earlier and I needed his help to get to the store. And to help me cook, 'cause otherwise I had no idea what I was doing," she said with a self-deprecating laugh. "So he took me to the store, and he helped me pick out a good cut of steak and fresh eggs…"

With that Leonard banished the thought of confronting her from his mind. No use thinking about that now. He was going to have some trouble recovering from the financial blow this would cause, but there was no point in rubbing her face in the mistake.

As she spoke he stopped really paying attention to the words and just let them wash over him. He couldn't deny the steak was good. It was tender and the sautéed onions on top were just the right complement.

"Leonard!"

"Hmm, what?"

"Why aren't you talking to me?"

"Oh, I'm just…really enjoying this food. It's good stuff." He looked away from her stare. "Really, it's good."

"What's your problem?"

"Who said there's a problem?"

She scowled. "You did. When you sat there ignoring me when I was talking to you."

They sat in silence and Leonard took another bite. He should have been listening. He didn't want to talk to her about the money right now. Save the explanations for later.

"Leonard?"

"Look…it's nothing, okay? It's nothing, not a big deal. We'll talk about it later."

"Talk about what later?"

"Allison, I said it's nothing."

She raised her eyebrows. "If it's not a big deal, then you can tell me what it is."

He shook his head. "It's just that I had a long day at work. Okay? That's all. Just forget it. Hey, you want to get me a slice of cake?"

Allison's eyes were cold. "Sure. Sure, whatever." She went over and served up a slice of cake before walking over his chair and slamming the plate down on the table. She walked back over to her seat and resumed eating her dinner.

The silence was palpable. All sorts of incidental noises were obvious now—the rustling of their napkins, utensils clicking and dragging against plates. He shook his head to himself. This wasn't worth arguing over, he decided. He looked up from his food and frowned.

"Allison? Look…I'm sorry."

Her expression didn't change. "I just wanted to surprise you."

"You did, Allison."

"You don't seem happy with it," she further complained, hunching her shoulders and crossing her arms.

"No, no, I am. I'm glad you did this for me."

She shook her head, still frowning, sullen. No…there was no way that he would ever be able say anything about the money now. Leonard felt the cost of the meal slipping away, like leaves washing down a storm drain. It was no use now. He was going to have to handle it all on his own.


End file.
